Battleground – Details, episodes & analysis

Joining Patrick and Saul this week, with the explosions of Russian fire in the background is friend of the show Askold Krushelnycky, who gives a fascinating dispatch of his recent trip into Ukrainian occupied Russian territory. They also discuss all the other latest developments from the past week. If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - podbattleground@gmail.com Producer: James Hodgson X (Twitter): @PodBattleground . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

To mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Paris, Patrick takes Saul through the events, the myths and the remarkable cast of characters that make up this remarkable story. If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - podbattleground@gmail.com Producer: James Hodgson X (Twitter): @PodBattleground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the second of our two part series on the attempts to Assassinate Hitler, Saul and Roger discuss the most famous attempt on Hitler's life - the July bomb plot. Made famous in recent years with the success of the film Valkyrie, in which Tom Cruise stars as German Army Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg. Together they discuss the key protagonists in the plot, as well as the wider plan to seize power in the Third Reich should the assassination be successful.   If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - podbattleground@gmail.com Producer: James Hodgson X (Twitter): @PodBattleground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this week's big interview, Patrick speaks to Francis Scarr from the BBC's monitoring service, Francis is a member of its Russia team who analyse Russian TV and social media, and specialises in the TV political talk shows, which dominate the schedules. Francis shares his fascinating array of knowledge about the Russian media landscape and draws from his own personal experiences from years spent living in Moscow. If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - battlegroundukraine@gmail.com Producer: James Hodgson Twitter: @PodBattleground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week on Battleground: Ukraine - Patrick and Saul David discuss a fascinating week in which the word breakthrough has been heard everywhere. The Ukrainians are claiming a series of small victories that collectively could bring about a decisive and favourable shift in their fortunes. Also in the news is the spectacular cruise missile attack on the Russian Black Sea Fleet headquarters in Sevastopol, they discuss the significance of this and more, and answer a host of interesting listeners questions. If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - battlegroundukraine@gmail.com Producer: James Hodgson Twitter: @PodBattleground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this final instalment from our travels to Ukraine, Saul, Patrick and producer James sit down in the historic central square of the Polish city of Krakow, to reflect on the previous days spent in Ukraine and what they took away from it all. If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - battlegroundukraine@gmail.com Producer: James Hodgson Twitter: @PodBattleground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week Saul and Patrick react to the news that Ukraine continues to make important gains on the battlefield, particularly south of Bakhmut and in western Zaporizhia, and has also been degrading Russia’s defensive capability in Crimea. They also take a look away from the battlefield, where President Joe Biden doubled down on his support for Ukraine in a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, and they have a look at reports being spread by Russian opposition figures that Vladimir Putin’s staunch Chechen ally Ramzan Kadyrov, has either died in hospital or is seriously ill. If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - battlegroundukraine@gmail.com Producer: James Hodgson Twitter: @PodBattleground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For this week's big interview, we have some more material from our time in Ukraine, this time from the outskirts of Kyiv at a child psychiatry centre, where children are receiving treatment for war trauma. We spoke to Oksana Sliepova - the director of the children's club 'positive' and two of the club's members - 12 year old Nastia and 15 year old Sofia, who told us about their experiences of the war and about the club.  We also have in the second half of the podcast, a moving interview with Oleg - a Bucha resident who buried some of the victims of Russian brutality in his hometown and described some harrowing accounts of his time there during its occupation by Russian forces.  If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - battlegroundukraine@gmail.com Producer: James Hodgson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week Patrick and Saul discuss the big news developments of the past week, Ukraine has taken out two Russian warships at the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet in Sebastopol using cruise missiles. Also in the news, Vladimir Putin met North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un in the far east of Russia, and there’s been some very encouraging predictions from US intelligence suggesting that a big Ukrainian breakthrough could come by the end of the year. If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - battlegroundukraine@gmail.com Producer: James Hodgson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of Battleground: Ukraine, Patrick and Saul have a fascinating interview with Taras Byk - a political strategist, who before the war worked with leading anti-corruption fighters, such as the mayor of Mikolaiv, and who is now working on a project that supports the breakup of the Russian Federation.  Saul and Patrick also speak to a young Ukrainian couple, Lydia and Dennis, about their views and experiences of the war and their view of Ukraines future. If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - battlegroundukraine@gmail.com Producer: James Hodgson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices