Is Ukraine really winning as Macron asserts? What is the political objective of this narrative? Are devastating hits on Kiev Putin's answer to that claim? Are the Russians about to attack drone manufacturers in Europe? Are we on the eve of yet another major escalation of the Ukraine war? These are some of the questions we shall discuss today. Dr. Brovkin served as an Associate Professor of Soviet History at Harvard University, he is the author of numerous books on Russian History and politics. His latest book: From Vladimir Lenin to Vladimir Putin: Russia in Search of Its identity (Routledge, London 2024) is available from Amazon and Routledge.com. In addition to Issues of Contemporary Politics playlist, you can find: Russia under Yeltsin and Putin, Russia under the Communist Regime, War in Ukraine, European History and others. THESE WERE CONVERTED TO PODCASTS AS WELL. FOLLOW me ON X TWITTER https://x.com/BrovkinVla97791. Follow me at Vbrovkin51.substack.com and listen to my podcasts at RSS.com

Putin Considers War Options

The Challenge:

New factors: 1.Long range missiles developed by UK for Ukraine. 800-900 km Ukraine is just a cover. British production

Most mainstream media assert that Ukraine is winning the war. They all refer to drone strikes on oil facilities as proof. I argue here that the West has already lost this war. Russian offensive is gaining speed and no drone deliveries to Ukraine cam stop it. Russia has an overwhelming advantage over European NATO in just about every branch of military hardware.

How did this war begin? How do the Russians regard Ukraine? Why was Putin reluctant to get into a fight? Why was Russia slow in initial phases of the war. We shall discuss these and other questions in this format of an interview with a British broadcaster.

Dr. Brovkin is an American historian of Russia, now retired, who served as an Associate professor of History at Harvard University, the author of many books on Russian history. His latest book: From Vladimir Lenin to Vladimir Putin (London. Routledge 2023) available on Amazon and other platforms.

This is the interview I gave for the British audience. The questions are all historical: Why did Putin come to power? Why did the Soviet Union collapse? Was the SU backward and in what? Why is Putin feared or hated in the West?

Two issues addressed today

Zelensky Belarus Bubble

Zelensky info war propaganda on the eve of NATO summit.

Sequence of events: relay stations threat to destroy . Zelensky "We will destroy ourselves." Putin Lukashenko meeting, Security Council Russia meeting.

Response: Belarus stands with Russia. Russia will defends Belarus,

Russian troops to enter Belarus. Unified State framework.

Many observers such as Gilbert Doctorow and others suggest that Putin is slow to respond and that his conduct of the SMO is too cautious and thus ineffective. Here I offer a different interpretation and suggest that the way the war is conducted has changed profoundly in view of the latest decisions of G7 and in view of the Ukrainian drone strikes

Here I discuss what Putin intends to do answering his critics that the Special Military Operation is not going as fast as one could expect. This is based on his speeches in mid-June 2026 for the Russian audiences, specifically speaking to the officers and soldiers serving at the front line and to the state officials and governors in central Russia

Intro: what’s new: a. New decisions of Security council

Response to drone attacks on Russia

Response to EU summit

Row between Ukraine and Poland

Drone attacks on Russia: intensification. In the hundreds.

Yesterday attack on Kerch ferry, Crimea, no gas in Cremia,

Trucks must go hundreds of km around. Federov: make an island of crimea.

Russian response: 15000 production a day. A new drone Molnia, faster and heavier; news strategy: Rassvet satellites, destroy on the ground infrastructure for targeting

. destroy logistics of NATO,

reception centers, drones storage, drone shipments, recruitment ceters, factories. Energy infrastructure.

Latest: FAB heavy bombs, iscander missiles, factories in Kiev, Kharkov, roads, logistics, hundreds of hits every day.

Nestern coverage: houses hit, casualties few one three four, amazing after hundreds of hits.

Konstantinovka taken, Liman taken, two cities left

New war gloves off.

Ushakov: we want victory, no more Anchorage agreements.