Hello and welcome to Battleground with me, Patrick Bishop and Saul David.

Well, it's been quite a week thus far, starting, of course, with the startling Ukrainian decision

to unleash a wave of missiles on Moscow in the biggest air assault on the capital to date.

Most of the drones were shot down, but some got through, and civilian targets were hit,

causing casualties. This was presented as justifiable retaliation for numberless Russian assaults on Ukrainian civilian targets.

But the operation marks a step change on Kiev's part and we'll be asking what it means and was it a wise move.

We'll also be considering the loud diplomatic mood music suggesting Ukraine could soon get the go-ahead from its Western allies

to use long-range storm shadow missiles and French scalps deep inside Russia.

We have to ask the question, Patrick, could it be that these drone attacks are actually

an act of desperation? The dramatic incursion by Ukrainian forces into the Kursk region is apparently still making steady

progress according to the latest reliable reports. And even the Russian state media was reporting

it could be many weeks before the invaders are sent home. But at the same time, there was little

sign that Russian forces are being diverted from their long, drawn-out offensive in the

Donbass, which was, of course, we estimate one of the major aims of the Kursk operation.

And indeed, all the signs are that they are making slow but steady progress there in the

eastern Donbass. On the other hand, as some of the smarter commentators have pointed out,

at least 30,000 Russian troops, albeit not all of a terribly high quality, have been sent to the Kerskoblast to try to prevent further Ukrainian advances.

And these are all men who won't now be available to bolster the meat attacks in the Dombas.

Meanwhile, President Zelensky is using increasingly strong language in his pleas to his

Western allies to lift restrictions on the use of the long-range weapons against Russian

strategic targets.

Things are definitely hotting up, wouldn't you say, Patrick?

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