Welcome to Hard Talk on the BBC World Service with me, Stephen Saka. My guest today was born into an

army family in Florida and never deviated in his desire to maintain the tradition. In all,

Ben Hodges spent 38 years in U.S. military uniform, rising through the ranks and through

conflict deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan,

to become commander of NATO land forces and commander of the US army in Europe. He retired four years ago

and has since spent time in the world of think tanks and NGOs addressing the past, present and

future role of American military power in geopolitics. Right now, of course,

Russia's war on Ukraine is the central challenge. Eight months after Vladimir Putin's

multi-front invasion, the Ukrainian military, backed by U.S. and European weaponry, has had

significant success with its counter-offensive. But Putin characterizes this

as a war against Western hegemony, which Moscow cannot afford to lose. And his escalatory tactics

are currently focused on destroying Ukraine's civilian infrastructure. He hints that all means,

including nuclear weapons, could be deployed to safeguard

Russian territory, which by his definition now includes chunks of illegally annexed Ukrainian

territory. So how far should America and its allies go in backing Ukraine is a vital

U.S. interest at stake? And what does this conflict tell us about the global

balance of power in an era increasingly defined by deepening suspicion between the West and the

rest? Well, Ben Hodges joins me now. Welcome to Hard Talk.

Thanks, Steve. I'm going to start with something you said just last month. You said total

restoration of all of Ukraine's sovereign territory, including Crimea, is inevitable.

Now, a few weeks on, do you still believe that? Even more so. I think Ukrainians have achieved irreversible momentum.

The Russians are losing in every facet of this war. So that's why they're resorting to things like going after

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