Four years of war in Ukraine - when will it end?

The Briefing Room

BBC

News, News Commentary

4.8 • 731 Ratings

🗓️ 26 February 2026

⏱️ 29 minutes

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Summary

It’s four years this week since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. And by this summer the conflict will have gone on for longer than the First World War. Casualties run into the hundreds of thousands. Peace talks brokered by the US have been off and on for the past few months, with President Putin demanding that Ukraine gives Russia full control of the eastern Donbas region, including the part it does not occupy. President Zelensky refuses. Meanwhile, Ukraine has experiened one of its harshest winters as its cities and energy infrastructure have been pounded by Russian drones and missiles. Still both sides fight on in a war which has become dominated by advanced drone technology. David Aaronovitch asks his guests whether anyone is winning and when and how this war might end.

Guests:

Mark Galeotti, head of Mayak Intelligence and author of "Forged in War: a military history of Russia from its beginnings to today." Dr Jack Watling, Senior Research Fellow for Land Warfare at the Royal United Services Institute and author of "The Arms of the Future: Technology and Close Combat in the Twenty First Century." Rebecca Lissner, Senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations and lecturer at the Jackson School of Global Affairs, Yale University. Christopher Miller, Chief Ukraine Correspondent, The Financial Times and author of "The war came to us: life and death in Ukraine."

Presenter: David Aaronovitch Producers: Caroline Bayley and Kirsteen Knight Production Co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele Sound engineer: Neil Churchill Editor: Richard Vadon

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts.
0:08.1	By this summer, the war in Ukraine that began when Russia invaded that country
0:12.7	will have lasted as long as the First World War,
0:16.4	which was certainly not what Vladimir Putin expected when he gave the order to attack,
0:21.6	or what other countries predicted once that assault began.
0:25.6	In that time, the narrative and expectations of the war have continually shifted,
0:31.6	as has the position of Ukraine's key allies, especially the United States.
0:36.6	So as winter ends in Ukraine, what are its
0:39.8	prospects now? Step into the briefing room and together we'll find out. I'm joined by four experts. Mark
0:50.3	Galliotti, who's head of Mayak Intelligence, an author of Forged in War,
0:54.7	a Military History of Russia.
0:57.0	Dr Jack Watling, whose Senior Research Fellow for Land Warfare at the Royal United Services
1:01.8	Institute, and he's the author of The Arms of the Future.
1:05.8	Rebecca Lister, who's a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former
1:09.8	national security adviser in the Biden administration, and Christopher Miller, the Financial Times chief Ukraine correspondent,
1:16.8	an author of The War Came to Us, Life and Death in Ukraine.
1:21.4	Chris Miller, if I can begin with you, we last had you on the program back at the end of
1:25.1	November, beginning of December, and then things were looking rather gloomy for Ukraine.
1:28.9	There was that corruption scandal you told us about.
1:31.3	Russia seemed to be making steady, rather slow progress on the battlefield.
1:34.5	And the Trump administration, critically, seemed to be back in that 28-point plan for a piece that seemed massively favourable to Russia.
1:43.3	So my first question is, in summary,
	...

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