By subjugating Ukraine, Putin hopes to reassert Russia’s status as a great power, discourage other neighbours from pivoting west, and distract from domestic issues through nationalist fervour. Ultimately, Putin fears the erosion of Russia's imperial legacy and the contagion of democratic aspirations among his own people—making Ukraine not just a strategic interest, but an existential concern for his rule and survival. It’s not about economic, territory or minerals, so why would Putin stop until ...
May 03, 2025•41 min•Season 4Ep. 692
Easter Pysanky: Silicon Curtain https://car4ukraine.com/campaigns/easter-pysanky-silicon-curtainCar for Ukraine has joined forces with a group of influencers, creators, and news observers during this special Easter season. In peaceful times, we might gift a basket of pysanky (hand-painted eggs), but now, we aim to deliver a basket of trucks to our warriors.This time, our main focus is on the Seraphims of the 104th Brigade and Chimera of HUR (Main Directorate of Intelligence), highly effective un...
May 03, 2025•1 hr 43 min•Season 4Ep. 690
Jesse Alexander is a public historian based in Vienna, Austria. He holds an MA in Modern History from the University of Vienna, where he focused on propaganda in World War One. Jesse has also researched, written, and hosted documentary films on 19th and 20th century conflict, including “The Great War” series.----------LINKS:https://x.com/jesse_historyhttps://www.jessealexanderhistory.net/https://www.youtube.com/realtimehistory @realtimehistory https://www.youtube.com/@TheGreatWar @TheGreatWar...
May 02, 2025•1 hr 17 min•Season 4Ep. 689
Edition No137 | 01-05-2025 - There are indications that all is not well in the dark Narnia of Trump’ administration. As President Trump approaches the first 100 days of his second term, a Fox News poll suggests that core voters as well as swing voters have concerns about the direction of travel. 82% are extremely or very concerned about inflation, while a new low of 38% approve on the economy (56% disapprove). His worst ratings are on inflation (33% approve, 59% disapprove), followed by tariffs ...
May 01, 2025•19 min
Anna Danylchuk has been creating a war diary since the early days of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022. Anna Danylchuk aims to tell the truth about Ukraine and Russia’s war and cut through the noise and propaganda. Anna is passionate about the beauty and independence of her country, and communicates this powerfully in her videos, in a clear and honest way.----------LINKS: @AnnafromUkraine https://www.buymeacoffee.com/annafromukraineMy interview with Anna in Lviv - hosted on he...
May 01, 2025•1 hr 15 min•Season 4Ep. 691
Edition No136 | 30-04-2025 - It’s been reported that Putin's spies are building a hit list of journalists, politicians, and public figures across Europe. GRU agents have been ordered to collect home addresses of Kremlin critics for potential "active measures." Aktivni meropriyatiyi. This story has been repeated by respected opposition figures such as Mikhail Khodorkovsky on social media, and we’ll be doing more research and interviews to check the scale of reality and risk that this change may i...
Apr 30, 2025•13 min
Samuel Greene is professor in Russian politics at King’s College London. Prior to moving to London in 2012 to join King’s, he lived and worked in Moscow for 13 years, most recently as director of the Centre for the Study of New Media & Society at the New Economic School, and as deputy director of the Carnegie Moscow Centre. He holds a PhD in political sociology from the London School of Economics & Political Science. His most recent book, co-authored with Graeme Robertson, is Putin v the...
Apr 30, 2025•53 min•Season 4Ep. 685
Vladimir Putin’s obsession with dominating Ukraine stems from a mix of geopolitical paranoia, historical revisionism, and authoritarian self-preservation. He views Ukraine’s westward shift in political aspirations and values—especially EU integration—as a direct threat to Russia’s sphere of influence and his regime’s legitimacy and indeed survivability. Whether that is exaggerated or not, he believes a successful, democratic, and economically stable Ukraine undermines his narrative that former S...
Apr 29, 2025•45 min•Season 4Ep. 688
Edition No135 | 28-04-2025 - After transitioning to become his excellency, Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi kept a relatively low profile. Now he’s attending more civic events that have connections to the Ukrainian community, and has given keynote addresses at several significant events, including Chatham House and Rusi. His vision of the future of war is emerging, as well as some criticism of Western military preparations to counter Russia, that is couched in low-key, h...
Apr 28, 2025•18 min
Yuliya Ziskina is a Policy and advocacy attorney specializing in information policy and public international law from Ukraine. She is based in the New York City Metropolitan Area.----------Timothy Ash, who has been professional economist for more than 30 years, with two thirds of that in the banking industry. Timothy’s specialism is emerging European economics, and he writes and blogs extensively on economic challenges for leading publications such as the Kyiv Post, Atlantic Council, the Financi...
Apr 28, 2025•38 min•Season 4Ep. 687
Vlad Mykhnenko is Professor of Geography and Political Economy at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of St. Peter's College, Oxford. He is an economic geographer, specialising in geographical political economy. His academic focus is on challenging the conventional wisdom of urban and regional development within the transition economies of eastern Europe (especially, Polish Upper Silesia and the Ukrainian Donbas). Vlad has produced over 140 research outputs, including books, articles, conferen...
Apr 27, 2025•48 min•Season 4Ep. 682
Dr Yuri Felshtinsky is a prominent author, historian, and journalist, and expert on Russia and the former Soviet Union. He has appeared in hundreds of print, TV, and radio interviews worldwide, and is widely known as co-author of the book “Blowing Up Russia” with Alexander Litvinenko, a former Lieutenant Colonel in the FSB who was poisoned with radioactive polonium in London in 2006. His latest book – “Blowing up Ukraine: The Return of Russian Terror and The Threat of World War III”, was researc...
Apr 26, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Season 4Ep. 684
Edition No134 | 25-04-2025 - Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik has been killed in a car bomb attack near Moscow. The most likely suspect for this highly targeted assassination is Ukraine. The elimination of Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik follows that of another senior Russian military figure, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, in December. In that incident, a bomb hidden on an electric scooter parked outside his apartment building exploded as he left for his office. In the latest blast, ...
Apr 25, 2025•6 min
Georgijs Ivanovs started the Ukraine Matters channel in 2007, and it has garners 11.5 m views. He started the channel to explain the situation surrounding the war in Ukraine in simple terms. Like myself, he is not Ukrainian, nor is he a military expert. But he has been to Ukraine many times and seen it almost fully (except for Odesa region). He has a lot of good friends in Ukraine, and in fact his wife is Ukrainian, and so feels extremely connected to the invasion that scaled up in February 2022...
Apr 25, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Season 4Ep. 683
Edition No133 | 24-04-2025 - The US is on the verge of exiting the so-called peace process. It’s become ever harder for him to hide the blatant alignment of his administration with Russia’s goal and objectives, Russian strategies and narratives. As we’ve said in, multiple recent episodes, it’s been all carrots for the Kremlin, and all sticks for Zelenskyy. Withdrawing from the process, will potentially shield Trump from internal and external political accusations, at best, that he favours Russia...
Apr 24, 2025•11 min
Welcome to our monthly conversation with Konstantin, who is one of the most respected voices on YouTube about what is happening Inside Russia. Konstantin Samoilov is a well-known YouTuber whose channel ‘Inside Russia’ comments insightfully on Russia’s decent into authoritarianism over the last few years. But now, like many others, he’s outside Russia, with no idea of when he can return there. ----------LINKS: https://www.patreon.com/insiderussiaINSIDE RUSSIA is a source of current news on Russia...
Apr 24, 2025•49 min•Season 4Ep. 681
Easter Pysanky: Silicon Curtain https://car4ukraine.com/campaigns/easter-pysanky-silicon-curtainCar for Ukraine has joined forces with a group of influencers, creators, and news observers during this special Easter season. In peaceful times, we might gift a basket of pysanky (hand-painted eggs), but now, we aim to deliver a basket of trucks to our warriors.This time, our main focus is on the Seraphims of the 104th Brigade and Chimera of HUR (Main Directorate of Intelligence), highly effective un...
Apr 23, 2025•1 hr 29 min•Season 4Ep. 680
Glen Grant worked as a defence and reform expert in Ukraine working for the Ukrainian Institute for the Future. He is also a Senior Fellow in the UK Institute for Statecraft on Building Integrity Initiative countering Russian influence. Glen graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, the Junior Staff Course Warminster and the Joint Staff Defence College at the Royal Naval College Greenwich. ----------LINKS:https://x.com/GlenGranthttps://balticsecurity.eu/https://www.linkedin.com/in/gle...
Apr 23, 2025•43 min•Season 4Ep. 679
Jake Broe is a United States Air Force veteran who served for six years as a Nuclear and Missile Operations Officer. But you may know him better as one of the most prominent voices on YouTube throughout the war, someone with absolute moral clarity about who the victim of the war is – spoilers, it’s Ukraine – and who brings direct military experience to his detailed analysis of the unfolding conflict. Do please subscribe to his channel for videos updates on the war in Ukraine as well as conversat...
Apr 22, 2025•1 hr•Season 4Ep. 678
Edition No132 | 21-04-2025 - Several days before Trump and his administration said publicly, they were prepared to walk away from mediation in the Russia-Ukraine war, he apparently privately ranted to aide about washing his hands of the negotiation process to find a peace deal. Trump ranted in private about his frustrations that the negotiations were going nowhere. And indeed, Russia is showing no inclination at all to call a halt to its aggression. This is entirely as predicted, at least by the...
Apr 21, 2025•11 min
Europe on Fire - the future of Ukrainian and European defence. Guest Panelists:Edward Hunter ChristieFrancis DearnleyCormac SmithA discussion on the future of Ukrainian and European defence held at the Ukrainian Cultural Centre.Silicon Curtain with Ukrainian Focus. Friday, April 18, 2025 - 19:00 GMT. As the war in Ukraine continues to shape the geopolitical landscape of Europe, this event brings together leading voices in policy, defense, and communications to explore the long-term implications ...
Apr 20, 2025•1 hr 47 min•Season 4Ep. 677
Edition No131 | 18-04-2025 - A man who’s been called Trump's spiritual advisor visited Ukraine and then seemed to have a revelation. 'Putin is pure evil', he pronounced in his verdict on Russia's war against Ukraine. Televangelist Pastor Mark Burns declared, "I now believe that supporting Ukraine is America first." He is now urging the US to send Kyiv more tanks, fighter jets, and air defence. This is a dramatic turnaround, because only last month, when Trump paused military aid to Ukraine, Past...
Apr 18, 2025•9 min
Edition No130 | 17-04-2025 - A US judge finds probable cause to hold Trump officials in contempt over deportations to El Salvador. Trump’s use of the alien act deportations power to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members without due process threatens to cause a head-on clash between the executive branch of government and the judiciary. This is a fight that Trump has likely engineered, and is potentially relishing, as his seemingly unstoppable drive to increase his personal power at the expense o...
Apr 17, 2025•22 min
Edition No129 | 16-04-2025 - From an outsider’s perspective, the US seems to have declared war on its own values; the president ignores the Supreme Court, threatening rule of law and division of powers. The executive mounts daily assaults on the concepts of sovereignty and freedom, free speech and freedom of association. The very principles the Founding Fathers fought for are being betrayed, and the essential checks and balances against oligarchy and autocracy dissolved. It's no wonder then, tha...
Apr 16, 2025•22 min
Maria Romanenko is a TV presenter, journalist, and writer from Ukraine and host of the YouTube show ‘Ukraine in Flames’ for the Ukraine Crisis Media Centre. She is now living and working in Manchester, contributing to media outlets such as The Guardian, Reader’s Digest, ITV, and BBC. Maria runs free Manchester walking tours for Ukrainians and will be performing on stage in London on 16th January 2023.----------WHERE YOU CAN HELP:Taras Chuchman's Invincible Defenders - https://www.gofundme.com/f/...
Apr 16, 2025•59 min•Season 4Ep. 676
Easter Pysanky: Silicon Curtain https://car4ukraine.com/campaigns/easter-pysanky-silicon-curtainCar for Ukraine has joined forces with a group of influencers, creators, and news observers during this special Easter season. In peaceful times, we might gift a basket of pysanky (hand-painted eggs), but now, we aim to deliver a basket of trucks to our warriors.This time, our main focus is on the Seraphims of the 104th Brigade and Chimera of HUR (Main Directorate of Intelligence), highly effective un...
Apr 16, 2025•1 hr 16 min•Season 4Ep. 675
Edition No128 | 15-04-2025 - A new commander has been appointed to the Eastern frontlines of Ukraine, and according to Euro Maidan Press, is bringing about a transformation of the performance of Ukraine’s armed forces. General Mykhailo Drapatyi has overseen an increase in combat effectiveness, in the Kharkiv, Luhansk, and Donetsk directions, that is crippling Russian artillery and armour. Ukrainian forces are shattering Russian artillery in record-breaking numbers, according to reports, counteri...
Apr 15, 2025•23 min
Easter Pysanky: Silicon Curtain https://car4ukraine.com/campaigns/easter-pysanky-silicon-curtainCar for Ukraine has joined forces with a group of influencers, creators, and news observers during this special Easter season. In peaceful times, we might gift a basket of pysanky (hand-painted eggs), but now, we aim to deliver a basket of trucks to our warriors.This time, our main focus is on the Seraphims of the 104th Brigade and Chimera of HUR (Main Directorate of Intelligence), highly effective un...
Apr 14, 2025•24 min•Season 4Ep. 665
Edition No127 | 13-04-2025 - Russia used ballistic missiles in its strike on Sumy today, packed with cluster munitions -- designed for maximum damage -- according to chief of Zelenskyy's Office Andriy Yermak. Russia killed 32 civilians, including two children, but the death toll from the strike is still rising. A trolleybus full of people was at the epicentre of Russia’s aggression. It was Palm Sunday; many people were going to church. According to Ukraine's spy chief Kyrylo Budanov, two Iskande...
Apr 13, 2025•17 min
Edition No126 | 12-04-2025 - Trumponomics is bringing results. Uncertainty, chaos and retaliation. China has hiked tariffs on US imports to 125 percent. This rate is likely high enough to effectively dampen US access to the Chinese market. The implication are not clear, and it’s unlikely that anyone in the Trump administration has modeled this out in any detail. This announcement comes after the White House clarified it was imposing tariffs totaling 145% on China. This combines the previously an...
Apr 12, 2025•14 min
