Hello and welcome to Battleground with me Saul David and drum roll please Patrick Bishop.

After a considerable absence Patrick is back to join me at the helm,

and it's been a while, Patrick, hasn't it? It sure has two months to be precise since I was

behind the battleground mic, and it's good to be back. It was basically some ongoing health

issues, mainly with my eyes, which kept me away, but all is fine now. So I'm hoping to take

up my regular slot, which may take some doing, given the magnificent job done by Roger Morehouse

in my absence. He's too good, in fact, Roger, isn't he? I was beginning to wonder whether

you actually allow me to come back. So thank you, Roger. And listen, as I'm afraid you're going to have to put up

with me for a while, at least on the Ukraine strand. But of course, Roger will continue to be a

regular voice on our history episodes and no doubt here as well. Well, welcome back, Patrick.

And while you've been away, you've no doubt been keeping an eye on events in Ukraine, but from a slightly

different perspective, I imagine, given that you haven't had to focus on the daily minutiae of the

story. So what do you think we are now compared to where we were when you left? Yeah, I mean,

that bit of extra distance does, I think, that you see the broader brushstrokes of the conflicts, or if I can

put it like that. And I suppose if I had to characterize the situation now across all fronts,

that is, military, diplomatic, economic, and political, I would sum it up as an uncertain

stasis. By that I mean, there's no very obvious side of movement either on or off the

battlefield. But that doesn't mean, of course, that there aren't strong currents underneath the

surface of events that could jolt things forward in a significant direction one way or the other.

But in general, I would say that the war in some ways is frozen,

which is quite remarkable given the incredible expenditure of lives, ordinance and political

capital that has been pouring out particularly on the Russian side. I mean, I've lost count of the

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