A major shift in Washington policy headlines a fraught NATO summit in Ankara.

This week, Patrick Bishop and Saul David break down Donald Trump’s surprising warming of relations with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, marked by a critical deal allowing Ukraine to co-produce Patriot missile interceptors to defend its cities from brutal Russian ballistic strikes. Meanwhile, JD Vance signals a massive change in American tone, acknowledging that Russian offensives are achieving almost nothing on the battlefield.

The hosts also unpack the tightening noose around occupied Crimea as Ukrainian strikes trigger a full-scale logistics collapse, forcing Russia to take the drastic step of banning diesel exports to safeguard domestic fuel. Plus, a look at European defense gridlock, a massive hack by Ukraine's IT Army, and a philosophical dive into why Ukrainian democratic traditions breed out-of-the-box military ingenuity while Russia relies on rigid authority.

• The Patriot License: Why Trump's allowig a localised Patriot interceptor manufacturing is a massive defensive game-changer for Kyiv.
• Crimea’s Fuel Crisis: How intermediate and long-range drone strikes forced Russian Deputy PM Alexander Novak to halt seaborne diesel exports.
• European Disunity: The collapse of the joint French-German-Spanish stealth fighter jet project, revealing deep fractures in European defence management.
• Cyber & Logistics: The IT Army of Ukraine wipes 3,000 servers from a major Russian construction firm.
• Introducing The Big Picture: A sneak peek at Battleground's new midweek feature cutting through the fog of global geopolitics with genuine experts.

Join the Conversation: If you have a question about the war in Ukraine or any of the conflicts we cover, email us at podbattleground@gmail.com

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Producer: James Hodgson

A Goalhanger Podcast

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