heating. without power. as the temperature continues to drop in this country. remember, this is a country where the temperatures can fall to 15 or 20 in the winter fall to 15 or 20 in the winter months. most the fighting on the ground has been focused on the east in the donbas region. president zelensky visited the front line in donetsk. he described the fighting in the area as difficult with russian forces pushing to capture the city of bakhmut. a little earlier i spoke to a former british army officer. now an executive with the sibylline. across the front and executive with the sibylline. across the front and we executive with the sibylline. across the front and we know executive with the sibylline. across the front and we know it executive with the sibylline. across the front and we know it is - executive with the sibylline. across the front and we know it is winter. | the front and we know it is winter. we know it is harder. there has been discontinuation of military
you don t normally get the defence minister of russia telling vladimir putin his forces have taken an entire region unless he s pretty confident that that s the truth on the ground. in another development, russia says kyiv has targeted missile strikes at the city of belgorod, close to its border with ukraine. it says at least four people have been killed. ukraine has made no comment about the claim. joining me now isjustine crump, who is the ceo of sibylline, an international intelligence and risk analysis consultancy. thank you for being with us, what you make of these russian claims that they are now in control of the luhansk region? how important is it to them and what do you make of the fact they are making this statement in the first place? i fact they are making this statement in the first place? in the first place? i think you are completely in the first place? i think you are completely correct in the first place? i think you are completely correct any in the first place
like mariupol completely destroyed. our correspondent joe inwood is in kyiv. we understand from the ukrainians they ve we understand from the ukrainians they ve stepped up in garage is and struggling to cope with it. the russians struggling to cope with it. the russians have pushed closer 22. they ve russians have pushed closer 22. they ve taken more villagers closer they ve taken more villagers closer to they ve taken more villagers closer to the city of lysychansk. thanks closer to the city of lysychansk. thanks very much to joe. joining me now isjustin crump, a military analyst and ceo of the risk advisory company, sibylline. very good to have you with us. i m just curious for your thoughts about the news coming in that the eu has decided they will give candidate status ukraine as well as moldova. do you feel that could have a direct impact, for example, on how ukraine
hand, countries like hungary which see the effect of an oil embargo would be in words of the prime minister, like a nuclear bomb on the hungarian economy and you have other countries like poland which see every day the eu is paying huge sums of money to russia for fuel which then goes to fund the war in ukraine. hard fronts here. people are continuing to negotiate to see if they can get some sort of compromise solution that might be given the green light today, any solution is going to take a lot of complicated details to work through. i know you will keep a close eye on developments in brussels. thank you both very much. let s talk about ukraine. justin let s talk about ukraine. crump is a military analyst and chief executive of sibylline,
return to normal is very much going to depend on the level of destruction and the number of people that have been forced from their homes. the ukraine war has highlighted the dangers of relying on a few globally traded crops, like wheat. with russia blocking ports, ukraine s wheat is unable to reach its destinations and that impact is being felt across the world. let s get more on this then. joining us live now is rhiannon phillips, who is an associate analyst for the middle east and north africa with the advisory firm, sibylline. welcome the advisory firm, sibylline. and thank you very ml indeed welcome and thank you very much indeed forjoining us. the impact is clear. ukraine was the sixth largest exporter of wheat in 2021, accounting for about 10% of exports for stopping your area of expertise, what is the impact you are seeing?