76: Russia's Winter Strikes on Ukrainian Energy and the Battle for Pokrovsk. John Hardie discusses how Russia is escalating its winter campaign against Ukrainian energy infrastructure using a higher percentage of hard-to-intercept ballistic missiles and drone

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John Batchelor

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🗓️ 11 November 2025

⏱️ 5 minutes

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Summary

Russia's Winter Strikes on Ukrainian Energy and the Battle for Pokrovsk. John Hardie discusses how Russia is escalating its winter campaign against Ukrainian energy infrastructure using a higher percentage of hard-to-intercept ballistic missiles and drones. This aims to break Ukrainian will and create leverage for negotiations. On the front, the battle for Pokrovsk is difficult, with Russians infiltrating the city and disrupting logistics using fiber-optic-controlled FPV drones. Although Ukraine has succeeded in attriting Russian forces there, preserving manpower by avoiding a late withdrawal remains a critical concern.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm John Batchel with my colleague Bill Rajo, the Foundation for Defense of Democracy,
0:07.0	keeps a long war journal. And John Hardy watches Ukraine for FD and for us. And we've talked about
0:14.1	the barrage against energy notes. And we've talked about Pekroft. There is also talk of diplomacy. I don't put anything to it
0:23.5	because diplomacy is one of those things that you actually have to see it happen to understand
0:28.3	that it's real. Otherwise, it's just speculation. Even more than fog of war is fog of diplomacy.
0:36.3	Bill, you have a question about Proffs before we go to the magic of Lavrov and Rubio.
0:42.5	Yes, John, you mentioned that you described the Ukrainian defense in Pekrosk as successful
0:50.1	and mentioned Russian casualties.
0:53.0	How about the Ukrainian side, on the Ukrainian side, haven't they poured an exorbitant
0:58.1	amount of resources to prevent, to defend this city?
1:02.3	And haven't they taken significant losses in armor and personnel as well?
1:09.0	It certainly made the defense,krovsk a priority.
1:12.3	You can see this in the mix of different units, some of their better units around this area.
1:19.7	And I should note that back in August when the Russians had kind of a tactical breakthrough
1:25.4	to the northeast near Dopopoeia.
1:28.0	The Ukrainians also brought in some additional, some of the, some more of their,
1:32.4	of their better units to that area.
1:34.2	And it actually kind of, or may have diverted some, some of the Ukrainian attention from
1:39.2	Prokrosk itself and helps the Russians kind of infiltrate into the city and get us to
1:43.5	where we are now.
1:44.7	I'd say that overall, if you look at the balance of losses and resources committed to this sector,
1:51.7	it's been a favorable battle for Ukraine.
	...

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