and american military writers used to talk about the expectation that when the ukrainians really punched through, the russians would collapse. that hasn t happened so far, has it? it hasn t happen, because they haven t been able to punch through. i mean, i think there is a morale problem in the russian lines. there s no question about it. a lot of them, a lot of the russian soldiers, don t want to be there. remember that, you know, this whole thing was supposed to be over in a matter of days. they re not particularly well fed or commanded or led. they re in a relatively good position, the russians, in that where they re dug in in these lines, they ve got a lot of overhead cover, they ve got artillery protection, they ve got helicopters backing up behind that, they ve in some cases got air superiority. so then quite a strong position. but you re absolutely right, if the ukrainians were able to find a way through the minefields and drive a wedge through those lines, i think it s perfectl
it hasn t happen, because they haven t been able to punch through. i mean, i think there is a morale problem in the russian lines. there s no question about it. a lot of them, a lot of the russian soldiers, don t want to be there. remember that, you know, this whole thing was supposed to be over in a matter of days. they re not particularly well fed or commanded or led. they re in a relatively good position, the russians, in that where they re dug in in these lines, they ve got a lot of overhead cover, they ve got artillery protection, they ve got helicopters backing up behind that, they ve in some cases got air superiority. so, their in quite a strong position. but you re absolutely right, if the ukrainians were able to find a way through the minefields and drive a wedge through those lines, i think it s perfectly possible we could see mass desertions and fleeing. and there are all sorts of reports
it hasn t happened, because they haven t been able to punch through. i mean, i think there is a morale problem in the russian lines. there s no question about it. a lot of them, a lot of the russian soldiers, don t want to be there. remember that, you know, this whole thing was supposed to be over in a matter of days. they re not particularly well fed or commanded or led. they re in a relatively good position, the russians, in that where they re dug in in these lines, they ve got a lot of overhead cover, they ve got artillery protection, they ve got helicopters backing up behind that, they ve, in some cases, got air superiority. so they re in quite a strong position. but you re absolutely right, if the ukrainians were able to find a way through the minefields and drive a wedge through those lines, i think it s perfectly possible we could see mass desertions and fleeing. and there are all sorts of reports of russian units that are there behind the lines to shoot people who desert, becau
got air superiority. so then quite a strong position. but you re absolutely right, if the ukrainians were able to find a way through the minefields and drive a wedge through those lines, i think it s perfectly possible we could see mass desertions and fleeing. and there are all sorts of reports of russian units that are there behind the lines to shoot people who desert, because they think that that is a real problem, a real risk for them. if the mutiny, the failed prigozhin wagner mutiny had gone on for much longer, i think we would have seen an effect on morale in the russian lines. i mentioned russian was fighting russian at the gates of moscow. what effect would that have have on the people serving in ukraine? i think that would have quite possibly precipitated the end of the ukraine war, but that didn t happen. and so the war drags on. this programme is now going off the airfor the summer.
here if the president is not prepared to stand firm and also the russian military leadership is incompetent, you could see mass desertions and an unwillingness of the part of the rank in file to follow orders. it s not so much the loss of wagner. yeah, and of course, following from prigozhin saying the reasons for the war, and those guys being the trenches were bogus, and that s not going to help morale. thank you soe much, sir. thank you. belarus s president emerges as the deal broker. and also, severe weather across the u.s. right now. a possible tornado in indiana left dozens of homes damaged. we will have more on that after the break.