Hello and welcome to the Friday episode of the Battleground podcast with me Saul David and Patrick Bishop.

Since we last reported on the news from Ukraine a couple of weeks ago,

things have not been going Kiev's way. The US Congress has blocked a 61 billion aid package

for Ukraine and President Voldemir Zelensky this week visited Washington in an attempt to

persuade Republican politicians to change their minds. But will he succeed? Meanwhile,

Russia has hardened its bargaining position by demanding that Ukraine withdraws its troops from

Russian territory as a prerequisite for any peace talks and announcing that it will conduct

voting for the 2024 presidential election in occupied Ukraine, likely in an attempt to legitimize the

Russian occupation and Russian President Vladimir Putin's rule. There is at least a bit of happier

news for Ukraine with Britain's announcement that it's going to donate scores of amphibious vehicles

and raiding craft to help the Ukrainian

armed forces expand their positions on the left bank of the Dnipro in the Kerson province.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, Russian forces conducted offensive operations in multiple locations,

including Kupianzl near Bakhmut, near Advivka, and in Western Zaporizier

Oblast. And they actually made some advances in some areas. Yet the cost to Russia may be

crippling with the ISW estimating that its losses along the entire front are more than it can

replace with new recruits and

some really horrifying casualty figures coming out of Ukraine and the US. We'll discuss the

significance of all this, but the really worrying news is that Ukraine might soon be cut off from

US military supports or what's the latest? Well, let's put this in context, shall we? So far,

the US has donated $75 billion in helping Ukraine to repel the Russian invasion. The bit of that

that's arms, and it's a big bit of it, particularly Haimars and other weapon systems,

...