his eyes are red. he s unshaven, obviously under a great deal of stress. he s decided to stay in the center of the ukrainian capital, even though he said himself that he believes he is the number one target for russian forces and that his family are the number two target. he said that several days ago. but look, he was asked about whether he how he was coping and whether he d seen his family, for instance. and he said, look, i haven t seen them for several days. for three days he hasn t seen them. this is a man who, obviously, originally was a comic actor. became the president. huge role in itself. and now he s emerged as this kind of really kind of important central figure in the defense of ukraine. but here he is leading the country from this bunker as russian forces are poised on the outskirts of the city to strike at the ukrainian capital. he also just made this emotional appeal. we played it at the top of the hour, matthew, to the european
it s an attempt to label your enemy as something unacceptable. this is the man facing down putin ukraine s president volodymir zelensky. a former comic actor, he d only been in politics ukrainians have answered their president s call to resist. should be fine now. oh, well done, sviatoslav, it s jane here in london. 26 year old mp sviatoslav yurash is organising volunteers. i m, at the moment, trying to get more weapons for various people who are appealing to me, er, to try and join the fight. and the point here is that we are giving everybody who wants to defend ukraine the chance to do it. this is the battle for our survival, our resistance.
are counter attacking. our security correspondent, frank gardner, has this assessment of the russian military campaign and the problems its troops have encountered. so just why has it gone so badly for russia in these first few weeks of the war? well, there are a number of reasons. there is a strength of the ukrainian resistance. most of the population has rallied round their government, with troops using western supplied weapons like javelin and stinger missiles. and when it comes to getting inside big cities, russia doesn t have enough troops to take on the defenders in most cases. here s their charismatic president, volodymyr zelensky, a one time comic actor who has rallied the nation, refusing to leave the capital even though there is a bounty on his head. then there s poor russian tactics. russian commanders on the ground have largely failed to take full advantage of all the tools at their disposal. things like armoured
on the defenders in most cases. here s their charismatic president, volodymyr zelensky, a one time comic actor who has rallied the nation, refusing to leave the capital even though there is a bounty on his head. then there s poor russian tactics. russian commanders on the ground have largely failed to take full advantage of all the tools at their disposal. things like armoured vehicles, artillery, rocket launchers, helicopters all of which, when combined with infantry, can have massive effect but which the russians have failed to master. the russian air force is 15 times bigger than ukraine s, yet they have failed to achieve supremacy in the skies. and finally, there s poor russian logistics and communications. russian soldiers have not always maintained their vehicles properly, meaning that many of them are breaking down. and when it comes to radios, a lot of them don t work, forcing them to use mobile phones which can be easily intercepted by the ukrainians.
so just why has it gone so badly for russia in these first few weeks of the war? well, there are a number of reasons. there is a strength of ukrainian resistance. most of the population has rallied round their government, with troops using western supplied weapons like javelin and stinger missiles. and when it comes to getting inside big cities, russia doesn t have enough troops to take on the defenders in most cases. here s their charismatic president, volodymyr zelensky, a one time comic actor who has rallied the nation, refusing to leave the capital even though there is a bounty on his head. then there s poor russian tactics. russian commanders on the ground have largely failed to take full advantage of all the tools at their disposal. things like armoured vehicles, artillery, rocket launchers, helicopters all of which, when combined with infantry, can have massive effect but which the russians have failed to master. the russian air force is 15 times bigger than ukraine s,