NATO chief: Prepare for war with Russia
Ukraine: The Latest
Louisa Wells / Francis Dearnley
4.8 • 2.3K Ratings
🗓️ 12 December 2025
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Day 1,387.
Today, as Russia attempts to convince the world – or at least Donald Trump – that they are inexorably taking territory, President Zelensky has visited the north-east city of Kupiansk, which has been recently liberated in a rapid recapture of ground. The head of NATO warns that the West faces the prospect of war with Russia on a scale not seen since the days of “our grandparents and great-grandparents” and we examine the latest diplomatic manoeuvres ahead of tomorrow’s meeting in Paris, where the question of territorial concessions will be front and centre. And later, Francis catches up with Ada Wordsworth of KHARPP to hear how your donations to her charity in Kharkiv, made in David Knowles’s memory, are helping vulnerable people this Christmas.
Contributors
Dominic Nicholls (Associate Editor of Defence). @DomNicholls on X.
Venetia Rainey (Co-host Battle Lines podcast). @venetiarainey on X.
Francis Dearnley (Executive Editor for Audio). @FrancisDearnley on X.
With thanks to Ada Wordsworth (co-founder of the KHARPP charity)
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CONTENT REFERENCED:
KHARPP Charity Website:
KHARPP Fundraiser for David Knowles:
https://donorbox.org/kharpp-fundraiser-in-memory-of-david-knowles
Nato chief: Prepare for war with Russia
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/12/11/nato-chief-prepare-for-war-with-russia/
Disrupting Russian Air Defence Production: Reclaiming the Sky https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/research-papers/disrupting-russian-air-defence-production-reclaiming-sky
The decorated marine tipped to be Labour’s next leader https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/12/12/al-carns-labour-next-leader-marine-armed-forces-minister/
Listen to Dom interview Al Carns on Battle Lines: https://linktr.ee/BattleLines
Head of US army cut out of Ukraine talks by paranoid Hegseth
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2025/12/12/pentagon-golden-boy-hegseth-dan-driscoll/
LISTEN TO THIS PODCAST IN NEW LANGUAGES:
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The Telegraph. |
| 0:05.0 | I'm Domnickles and this is Ukraine the latest. |
| 0:12.0 | Today, as Russia tries to convince the world, or at least Donald Trump, |
| 0:16.0 | that they are inexorably taking territory, |
| 0:19.0 | President Zelenskyy has visited the northeast city of Kyant, recently liberated in a rapid recapture of ground. Just as the head of NATO |
| 0:26.4 | says the West faces war with Russia on a scale not seen since the days of our grandparents |
| 0:31.7 | and great-grandparents. We look at the latest diplomatic moves, previewing a meeting tomorrow |
| 0:36.9 | in Paris, at which the subject of territorial con previewing a meeting tomorrow in Paris, |
| 0:40.8 | at which the subject of territorial concessions will be front and centre, |
| 0:43.9 | and later Francis catches up with Ada Wordsworth to hear how your donations to her charity in Harkiv, in David Knowles' memory, |
| 0:48.7 | are helping vulnerable people this Christmas. |
| 0:52.1 | Bravery takes you through the most unimaginable hardships to finally reward you with victory. |
| 1:01.9 | The Russia does not want peace. |
| 1:03.7 | First, we're fighting, with our help for the Ukraine, |
| 1:07.2 | also our freedom and our European values. If I'm president, our freedom and our European |
| 1:11.2 | Writers. |
| 1:12.4 | If I'm president, I will have that war settled in one day, 24 hours. |
| 1:16.3 | We are with you, not just today or tomorrow, but for a hundred years. |
| 1:21.4 | We can't as a European, let us gain the Russia in Ukraine. |
| 1:25.9 | Nobody's going to break us. |
| 1:28.0 | We're strong. |
| 1:29.2 | Where Ukraine is. |
... |
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