maintain their support? well, my guest is general ben hodges, former commander of the us army in europe. could this winter be russia s friend? i m going to start with something you said just last month. you said total restoration of all of ukraine s sovereign territory, including crimea, is inevitable. now, a few weeks on, do you still believe that? even more so. i think ukrainians have achieved irreversible momentum. the russians are losing in every facet of this war. so that s why they re resorting to things like going after energy infrastructure, doing what they can, exactly as you said in the lead in, to stretch this out in hopes that the west would lose the will to continue supporting ukraine. but it s not a small thing, is it? the way the russians are hitting civilian infrastructure, they are, as we speak, cutting power and heat to millions of people across ukraine. and it seems, despite the best efforts of ukrainian air defences, they can continue to do it. it sure loo
nation in three years. and the premier li keqiang. now on bbc news hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i m stephen sackur. winter is coming to europe, and vladimir putin is hoping the battle lines in his war on ukraine will be frozen, buying him time to reinforce at the front, while exposing ukrainians and all of europe to the reality of an energy crisis. the ukrainian armed forces have made gains in recent months, but can they go further, and will kyiv s backers in the us and europe maintain their support? well, my guest is general ben hodges, former commander of the us army in europe. could this winter be russia s friend? thanks, steve. even more so. i think ukrainians have achieved irreversible momentum. the russians are losing in every facet of this war. so that s why they re resorting to things like going after energy infrastructure, doing what they can, exactly as you said in the lead in, to stretch this out in hopes that the west would lose the will to continue supporting
the ukrainian armed forces have made gains in recent months, but can they go further and will kyiv s backers in the us and europe maintain their support? well, my guest is general ben hodges, former commander of the us army in europe. could this winter be russia s friend? i m going to start with something you said just last month. you said total restoration of all of ukraine s sovereign territory, including crimea, is inevitable. now, a few weeks on, do you still believe that? even more so. i think ukrainians have achieved irreversible momentum. the russians are losing in every facet of this war. so that s why they re resorting to things like going after energy infrastructure, doing what they can, exactly as you said in the lead in, to stretch this out in hopes that the west would lose the will to continue supporting ukraine. but it s not a small thing, is it? the way the russians are hitting civilian infrastructure, they are, as we speak, cutting power and heat to millions o
in tigray for a permanent cessation of hostilities. the two year conflict has left hundreds of thousands dead, almost five million displaced, and a population on the brink of starvation. now on bbc news, it s time for hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i m stephen sackur. winter is coming to europe and vladimir putin is hoping the battle lines in his war on ukraine will be frozen, buying him time to reinforce at the front while exposing ukrainians and all of europe to the reality of an energy crisis. the ukrainian armed forces have made gains in recent months, but can they go further and will kyiv s backers in the us and europe maintain their support? well, my guest is general ben hodges, former commander of the us army in europe. could this winter be russia s friend? i m going to start with something you said just last month. you said total restoration of all of ukraine s sovereign territory, including crimea, is inevitable. now, a few weeks on, do you still believe that? even m
then you re going to see millions of ukrainians heading back into europe again during the winter. and that s exactly what putin and his associates in the kremlin want to see. that s right. which is why the west needs to accelerate the delivery of air and missile defence capabilities to help ukraine stop russia from what it s doing. we ll get to future weapons supplies in a moment. butjust to think about the battlefield, and with your experience commanding the us army in europe, key officer in nato for years, you see the battlefield, and i m just surprised that you are so optimistic that it can change radically within the next, say, six months. first, we ve got winter, and, second, we ve got russia mobilising hundreds of thousands of new fighters. surely that is going to be a factor. it is a factor. but we know from history that war is a test of will and it s a test of logistics. the ukrainians have demonstrated for the whole world to see they have superior will, both soldiers as well a