Ukraine: Have we reached a turning point in the war?
The Briefing Room
BBC
4.8 • 731 Ratings
🗓️ 15 September 2022
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Ukraine's military has retaken thousands of square kilometres of territory near the north-eastern city of Kharkiv. The Russians are said to have retreated in haste and disarray, but they retaliated by shelling a large power plant, causing blackouts in Kharkiv, the country's second biggest city.
Is Ukraine's successful counter-offensive a turning point in the war? Could Ukraine win? Experts say Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, won't countenance defeat, and will escalate instead of retreating or suing for peace. Might Putin launch a tactical nuclear strike? Or use mobilisation or conscription for all-out war?
Joining David Aaronovitch in The Briefing Room are:
- Vitaliy Shevchenko, Russia editor at BBC Monitoring and co-host of the BBC's Ukrainecast podcast - Michael Clarke, Professor of Defence studies and Specialist Advisor to the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy - Samantha de Bendern, Associate Fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House - Sir Lawrence Freedman, Emeritus Professor of War Studies at King's College London - Shashank Joshi, Defence Editor of The Economist
Producers: Paul Connolly, Arlene Gregorius and Kirsteen Knight Editor: Richard Vadon Sound engineer: Neil Churchill Production co-ordinator: Siobhan Reed and Helena Warwick-Cross
Image credit: Anton Petrus/Getty Images
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:06.7 | Welcome to the briefing room with me, David Aronovich. The briefing room is the point in the |
| 0:11.3 | metaverse, where you, me and the top experts coincide to try and understand one of the big |
| 0:17.3 | issues of the moment. This week, what do recent Ukrainian victories mean for the conduct of the war |
| 0:23.4 | and the future of Vladimir Putin? |
| 0:28.6 | It's now 204 days since Russia launched this invasion of Ukraine. |
| 0:34.3 | And in the last couple of weeks, the war has been going disastrously for the invaders, |
| 0:38.6 | with 8,000 square kilometres of territory being recaptured in the Ukrainian counter-offensive. |
| 0:45.5 | Jubilation, though, is tempered by anxiety about how an increasingly desperate Russia might respond |
| 0:51.3 | to the possibility of defeat. |
| 0:53.7 | Have we reached a turning point in the |
| 0:55.6 | Ukraine war? And what now in Moscow? Step into the briefing room to find out. |
| 1:05.1 | First, let's get an expert view on what's happened on the ground in the last few days. |
| 1:10.1 | Michael Krak is Professor of Defense |
| 1:11.8 | Studies and a specialist advisor to the Joint Committee on National Security Strategy. |
| 1:17.1 | Michael Clark, as Ukraine continues its counteroffensive, can you tell me what the latest and |
| 1:22.7 | most significant developments in your view are? Well, the Ukrainian counteroffensive has forced the Russians to |
| 1:28.8 | abandon the Kharkiv region entirely, which opens up the Donbass for potential counterattacks. |
| 1:35.1 | And there's some evidence that the Ukrainians look as if they may keep going to try to win back |
| 1:39.5 | those two-thirds of the Donbass that they've been pushed out of. And then in the southwest, they've |
| 1:46.4 | been pushing now since the 28th of August at Kurson, which is strategically the most important |
| 1:51.7 | objective, because that's the only big city the Russians have actually occupied, and it's a very |
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