Ben Hodges - Now is Ukraine's Turn to Strike Back, but When, Where, and How Hard will they Strike?

GUEST: Lieutenant General (retired) Ben Hodges - retired United States Army officer, policy analyst and expert on NATO, the Transatlantic relationship and international security.
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Through the winter, Ukrainian and Western officials had warned Russia was preparing to launch a new offensive. Apparently, it was “mustering forces beyond the Urals”, according to General Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s army chief. Rumours circulated, that Russian forces, bolstered by Belarussian divisions, could even try to storm Kyiv once more. Russia had gathered half a million fresh mobilised troops and would “make a push” around the anniversary of the war, suggested the defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov. But it seems that Russia’s offensive began weeks ago, around the meat grinder of Bakhmut, and is already running out of steam – a damp squib. Intercepted communications and the ravings of angered mil bloggers suggest Russia is running out of ideas and ammunition. Now it seems is the turn of Ukraine to strike back. But when, where, and how hard will they hit the Russians?
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SPEAKER:
Lieutenant General (Retired) Ben Hodges, the former Commanding General of US Army Europe, is now Senior Advisor to Human Rights First, a non-profit, nonpartisan international human rights organization based in New York, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles. Prior to joining Human Rights First, he held the Pershing Chair in Strategic Studies at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA). General Hodges serves as NATO Senior Mentor for Logistics, he consults for several companies on Europe, NATO, and the European Union, and he is co-author of the book Future War and the Defence of Europe, published by Oxford University Press.

He retired from the U.S. Army in January 2018 and lives today with his wife in Frankfurt, Germany.
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LINKS:
Ben Hodges - Twitter:   / general_ben  
Ben Hodges - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Hodges
Ben Hodges - CEPA: https://cepa.org/author/ben-hodges/
Ben Hodges - New Statesman: https://www.newstatesman.com/the-week...
Ben Hodges - The Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/b...
Ben Hodges - Defence IQ: https://www.defenceiq.com/contributor...
Ben Hodges - BBC HardTalk interview: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/n3ct...
Ben Hodges - Globsec: https://www.globsec.org/who-we-are/ou...
Ben Hodges - Atlantic Council Q&A: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/conte...
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#benhodges #ukraine #ukrainewar #russia #zelensky #putin #propaganda
#war #disinformation #hybridwarfare #foreignpolicy #communism #sovietunion #postsoviet
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CHAPTERS:
00:21 Could Kyiv be under threat once more from 500k conscripts?
02:30 After 9 months the Russians have made little visible or strategic progress
04:30 Even the propagandists will have trouble spinning this as a victory
09:00 Will Russians stay and fight, or flee Crimea like rats leaving a sinking ship
13:08 Was NATO a threat, especially in the 2000s as is claimed by Russian propagandists?
16:00 War of attrition and the false equivalence of looking at ratios of RU & UA KIAs
20:08 Does West yet have a mindset to support Ukraine for victory, not just survival
24:37 What needs to happen to enable a Ukrainian victory - in terms of equipment
30:14 Ukraine can retake large territory - are they preparing to punch through again?
37:34 Putin is the worst possible Russian leader for Ukraine - noone could be worse
44:18 This struggle is about the information war too - which we're not winning globally
48:09 War crimes accusations need to be extended to all of Putin's entourage
53:16 Are we seeing a 'teaser' of future wars in the Ukrainian army's use of drones
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