Welcome to the Pdbidavis situation report.

I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Well, believe it or not, this is our final situation report of 2025. My,

how the year flew by. So today we're doing something a little bit different. We're stepping back

to take stock of two of the most consequential regions, shaping the global security picture and

looking ahead to what comes next. We'll start in Ukraine, of course,

where another brutal year of war has reshaped assumptions on both sides of the battlefield.

Joining us to break it all down is George Barros from the Institute for the Study of War.

Then, later in the show, we'll shift our focus out to the Far East, where strategic competition

continues to intensify. We'll be joined by Steve Yates from

the Heronge Foundation, but first, this coming February will mark the fourth year of Russia's

full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Imagine that. Fourth year. A war that many analysts once believe

would be over in days. Do you remember that? There was once a time

when we thought, oh, the Kremlin's going to roll right into Kiev in days, and it's going to all be

over. But here we are. In 2025, proved to be another grinding consequential year in the conflict.

Ukraine dramatically expanded its drone campaign deep into the heart of Russia, striking

targets tied to Moscow's economic

infrastructure and oil industry, bringing the war closer to home for the Kremlin than at any point

so far. On the battlefield, however, the front lines told a familiar story. Russia made incremental,

slow, costly territorial gains, but again, only had an extraordinarily high cost in manpower

and equipment, underscoring the brutal, almost stalemate that continues to define this war.

Joining us now is George Barrows. He's the U.S. team leader at the Institute for the Study of War

and a very good friend of the show. George, thank you very much.

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