Hello and welcome to Inside Briefing, the podcast from the Institute for Government. I'm Hannah White.

A year has now passed since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, a grim anniversary. This week has seen major speeches

by President Biden, fresh from his surprise visit to Kiev, and President Putin in Moscow.

We're going to discuss what's happened so far and what might happen next. And what the impact of

the war has been on the UK, its government and its place in the world. A big part of that, of course, is the UK's relationship with the EU.

And that relationship is back in the news this week, with the Prime Minister locked in talks

over how to break the impasse over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

We'll try and make sense of what's going on and what a deal could look like.

And then we'll end with a switch to domestic issues. With the spring budget looming,

the Chancellor is under pressure to reach pay deals with striking public sector workers. But

what difference has the new government's approach made to public service performance? And what

would happen if the strikes continue? A new IFG report has the answers and we'll talk to one of

its authors. A lot to get through and alongside me today

are IFG Program Director Alex Thomas and IFG Senior Researcher Jess Sargent. Hi both. Hello. Hi, Hannah.

And I'm delighted to be joined today by Peter Ricketts, Lord Ricketts, who has served as the head

of the UK's Diplomatic Service and was the country's first national security advisor. Thank you very much

for joining us, Peter.

Good to be with you, Hannah. So let's start with Ukraine, where the fighting continues,

and judging by Putin's words this week is unlikely to end any time soon. Peter, is that a fair analysis?

Yes, I think so. I mean, we're back into a second fighting season now. I think the gap between

Putin's strategic ambition and

the realities on the ground is as large as ever. I don't see any change in Russian tactics

...