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

Our guest today is distinguished reporter, author and political analyst Tim Judah, who writes

for The Economist and the New York Review, and who has just returned from a month in Ukraine.

But before we speak to Tim, we're going to do a quick roundup of the news, which includes

the important confirmation, finally we hear it, from Vladimir Zelensky, that he signed a bill to lower

the mobilization age for combat duty from 27 to 25. In a move, of course, that's expected to help Ukraine

generate more fighting power in its war with Russia. Apparently, the bill's been on the president's

table since May, 2003. That's news to me, but he's finally agreed to sign it. In other news, the Speaker of the House

of Representatives, Mike Johnson, there are indications that he might be about to reverse his

opposition to Ukraine's war effort and allow a vote on President Joe Biden's proposal to send another

$61 billion of aid to Ukraine. And we also hear a proposed plan by NATO to Trump-proof Western

support for the war by setting up a $100 billion trust fund scheme that would see NATO sending

weapons and ammunition directly to Ukraine for the first time.

That total amount apparently would be spread over five years.

Well, other significant developments this week include a vow by a senior official in Ukrainian

military intelligence that the Kerch Bridge that connects Crimea to Russia will be destroyed

in the first half of 2024. So three months to go then,

watch this space. But I just apologize here for my voice. I'm trying to shake off a cold,

so you'll have to bear with me, I'm afraid. Okay, Ukraine's had yet another success with its long-range

strikes when it hit a factory assembling Iranian Shahid drones in the central Tatarstan region and also an oil refinery nearby at Niznakamsk.

Now, both these are really quite significant achievements.

Both of these targets are 800 miles from the Ukrainian border,

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