of avdiivka. avdiivka had become a ukrainian stronghold, really. this was a place which sits on the front line for the past decade. it separates ukrainian controlled territory and the eastern city of donetsk, which russian forces have controlled since 2014. in that time, the ukrainians built real substantial fortifications, and yet in recent months the russians have launched wave after wave of attack, suffering significant losses. at one point, hundreds of soldiers were being killed weekly, if not daily. but crucially the ukrainians suffered losses as well. and because we are in a war of attrition, where both sides are trying to exhaust each other, size is starting to count for more, and i think this is what we have seen with avdiivka. a city, once an industrial hub, now drained of life and almost completely destroyed. some ukrainian forces were captured as they tried to escape, most made it out, we are told. president zelensky, speaking to world leaders in munich made the ar
and the ukrainecast presenter vitaliy shevchenko has been following developments. he gave me some background on the general who s been dimissed. valerii zaluzhnyi, to put simply, he was in charge of the ukrainian army. and as such, he was the architect of ukraine s initial counteroffensive backin ukraine s initial counteroffensive back in 2022. he is the face of ukraine s relative military success. he is credited well with the fact that ukraine s still there, still fighting, and yet he has been sacked. it s a move that will not go down particularly well with some parts of the military and the public in ukraine. general valerii zaluzhnyi has been very well thought of, respected and revered by many, so questions have been asked and are being asked about why this has happened. there s a lot of talk about a personality clash between the two leaders, between volodymyr zelensky and valerii zaluzhnyi. i keep presidential adviser in ukraine said that one important reason why a reshuf
radek sikorski, in warsaw, welcome to hardtalk. hello. good to see you again, stephen. it s great to have you on the programme. let s begin with a simple thought. the portents for ukraine in its grim battle against vladimir putin s forces in ukraine, the portents are really very negative, are they not? the supply of weaponry and of money coming from kyiv supporters is drying up. how concerned are you? that s not quite right. i was in kyiv within days of my appointment in december. my prime minister, the former head of the european council, donald tusk, has just been there, and the ukrainians have achieved a victory that has not been noticed in the western press, namely that, against stiff russian opposition, they have cleared western black sea of russian ships and they have now resumed grain shipments, not under a deal, from odesa via the western black sea to the bosphorus and to africa and beyond. that s a considerable military success. that s not insignificant. and they als
it s great to have you on the programme. let s begin with a simple thought. the portents for ukraine in its grim battle against vladimir putin s forces in ukraine, the portents are really very negative, are they not? the supply of weaponry and of money coming from kyiv supporters is drying up. how concerned are you? that s not quite right. i was in kyiv within days of my appointment in december. my prime minister, the former head of the european council, donald tusk, has just been there, and the ukrainians have achieved a victory that has not been noticed in the western press, namely that, against stiff russian opposition, they have cleared western black sea of russian ships and they have now resumed grain shipments, not under a deal, from odesa via the western black sea to the bosphorus and to africa and beyond. that s a considerable military success. that s not insignificant. and they also. i agree it s not insignificant. but, ultimately, this is a desperate battle, metre b