“Let the Russians brag about their inexorable advance all they want while Ukrainians figure out how to slaughter them to the tune of 40-50,000 a month.”

Former commander of the US army in Europe General Ben Hodges, The Times’s Maxim Tucker and former advisor to the Ukrainian ministry of defence Yuriy Sak join Philip Ingram to reflect on the last four years of the Ukraine war.

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“That’s a huge figure which is, at the moment, more than Russia’s recruitment rate.”

Putin could be forced into difficult decisions that could threaten his regime after Ukraine’s commander-in-chief reports that Ukraine killed 32,000 Russian troops last month alone, says The Times’s Maxim Tucker.

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“It really caused a breakdown in the cohesion of many units, which meant they couldn’t coordinate either the attacks against the Ukrainians or defence against Ukrainian attacks.”

Elon Musk’s decision to cut off Starlink access to Putin's forces “took them by surprise” and has halted Russian attacks on the frontline, says Major General Mick Ryan.

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"If he sits down with Zelensky and Trump, then it becomes obvious who the person is who doesn't want peace, and that's Vladimir Putin,"

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's comments on peace in Ukraine show Putin is still under pressure not to accept any US/Ukraine peace terms or be pushed into a trilateral meeting, says Sir Bill Browder on Frontline

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"Once Putin takes a step back, that's it he's done."

Putin is facing "internal divisions" after Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov voiced concerns that agreements made with Trump in Alaska had collapsed while Kremlin hardliners push for Russia not to sign any agreement, says Prof. Scott Lucas on Frontline.

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“A small number of cheap, AI-guided attack and interceptor drones … can knock down Shahed systems.”

Putin’s Shahed systems are being wiped out by innovative Ukrainian and European drone systems, says former Major General Chip Chapman.

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“He is wagering the Russian economy in this war, not the army any more.”

Putin’s army is “flagging and failing, and getting degraded by the day”, which is consequently dragging down the Russian economy, says the Atlantic Council’s senior fellow, Diane Francis.

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“Why didn’t we do this two or three years ago?”

The Kremlin is “rattled” as Europe signs an agreement stating that vessels which change their flag will be deemed flagless and liable to boarding after a Russian oil tanker was found in the Atlantic, says former British Army colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon.

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