Hello and welcome to the battleground podcast with me Saul David and Patrick Bishop.

The big news this week, my deliverance from the icy waters of the West of

Scotlanders side, was an article written for the economist by General Valerie Zoluzni, the head

of the Ukrainian armed forces that seemed to suggest the counteroffensive had run out of steam

and that the war had moved from one of movement to one of deadlock. Yet at the same time,

perhaps aware that Zillusioni's

message was being interpreted by Western analysts as too negative, President Volodymya Zelensky

has insisted that the war in Ukraine is not in deadlock and that there is no pressure on his government

from Western allies to enter into peace negotiations with Russia.

Various developments on the battlefield seem to confirm this.

In a potentially significant move, Ukrainian forces have transferred a limited number of armored vehicles

to the east, that is, the left bank of the Dniepro, in the Kerson Oblast, where they'd already established a bridgehead.

Ukrainian forces are continuing to make small gains near Bakhmut and in Western Zaporizia,

and Ukraine has carried out another successful missile attack on a Russian warship, this time

using a French scalp missile to seriously damage a brand new corvette in Kerch on the

Kyrgyz on the Kremlin. Meanwhile, the Russians continue to bang their heads against a brick wall

in Avdivka near Donet City, and Ukrainian special forces, or possibly partisans, have used a car bomb in

occupied Lohans to kill separatist

politician Mikhail Philippi Pernenko, the former head of the Lujans local militia that's been

fighting against Kiv since 2014. We'll be discussing the implications of all of this and the news

that Brussels had recommended opening formal EU membership negotiations with Ukraine

earlier this week. But first, let's start with that article written by General Zilluzni and try to

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