The Duran Podcast - Corruption, collapse and Zelensky Europe road trip

Episode Date: November 18, 2025

Corruption, collapse and Zelensky Europe road trip

All right, Alexander, let's talk about the situation in Ukraine. The situation on the front line with the Russian forces continuing to advance. They are advancing very quickly in the direction of Zaporouly. And in that direction, we have the encirclement and the capture of Pakrovs. I think we can say that it's captured, even though the Ministry of Defense has not officially come out with a statement saying that Bakurovskan Milneograder captured. They effectively are captured. The Ukraine military was trying some sort of counterattack in that direction,

but it looks like all those efforts have failed. And of course you have what's happening in the north, in the Kharkov region, in Kupyansk. You also have activity in Lyman in Sversk. And as all of this is happening on the front line, this Ukraine military collapse that we are seeing on the front line. Zelensky decided it's a good idea to go on a road trip. Yeah.

And so that's what he did. He is on a European road trip. That is what his people are calling it. That's what the Western media is calling it. Zelenskyy's European road trip. And so he stopped over in Greece. He's in France. And I believe he is going to a lot more other countries to ask for money and for weapons and signing gas deals.

Yes. Yes. Where do you want to begin? Well, where to begin? Let's begin a bit with the military situation, which you've actually described very well. I think that this is something that in the West, there is still a reluctance to accept the gravity of it. But what we're actually now looking at is something worse than setbacks.

Some places on the front lines, it is beginning to look like an all-income. accomplishing military crisis. If you go to the Ukrainian side of the internet, all the various reporters and bloggers and people of that kind, I mean, they are both in a state of panic and in a state of rage, raged with Zelensky and Siersky and the Ukrainian command, but also in panic about how bad things are. And, well, where to begin? I mean, Pagrosk, I think you're absolutely correct. I think the city of private. the town of Pachrosk itself is now completely under Russian control. I do think the Russian Ministry of Defense is going to announce that fact

until the entire Pakrovsk cauldron, which includes the Ukrainian grouping in Mernograd, has been cleared completely. But that is now only a question of time. In fact, from what I can see, that cauldron is being sealed tighter, all the time. Half of it, apparently, the southern part of it, has now passed under Russian control. The Ukrainians are saying that it's passed into the gray zone. That means the

contested zone. When the Ukrainians say that, you know, about 50% of the caldron, the former quadrant is in the contested zone. What they really mean is that the Russians control it. So it seems to me that what we now have in Pakrovsk is a area. in northwestern Mernograd, where there is a body of several hundred or perhaps several thousand Ukrainian troops surrounded. And that's the situation in Pacharov. We've discussed in many programs what would happen if Pachrosk fell. We've discussed it also with Scott have calibrated, with whom we did a program. I think it was last week.

The fall of Pakrosk would be a decisive event because it would open the way for the Russians to advance west towards the NEPA, towards the city of Pavlograd, which is also said to be a key logistics hub this time to send supplies north to Kharkov region and places like that. Indeed, is the city of the city of. Kharkath itself, but it would also, the fall of Kakrosk, would also put the Russians in a position

where they could outflank and surround the Ukrainian troops in the two cities of Slaviansk and Kramatosk, in other words, surround fortified towns in Dombas. And the same is happening. In the north, again, reports say that all of Kupiansk is now basically under Russian control. The Russians have captured the industrial sector of Kupiansk, which is located on the east bank of the river Oskol, which flows through Kupiansk. The residential areas on the west side of the Oskol, which are on higher ground, are also under Russian control. There are some outlying suburbs to the south, including areas, by the way of, parks and woods, in other words, not built up areas, which is still being fought over. But that looks like it's essentially over.

And, well, before long, we will hear that the Ukrainian forces that are trapped, not in Kupiansk itself anymore, but apparently in fields that lie to the east of Kupiansk, that they will probably be forced to lay down their arms also. So those are the two places, the two places where the cauldrons have happened. But in a way, now this is really extraordinary, all of this is being overshadowed by what looks like the even greater disaster that is unfolding in the South. And again, if you go back to our program, the Scott have calibrated. talked about this, but things there are moving, I think, even faster than Scott of Gallerading

was saying. The Russians now look like they're close to encircling the town of Guillaapolier. They have captured an important fortified village to the south-east of Oreckho, a village called Malaya Tokmachka, which is the village that the Ukrainians used. as their base area for their summer 2023 offensive, which was supposed to break through to the Sea of Azov. With Malaya Toknachka under Russian control, with Gulliapolia about to be surrounded, it looks impossible that Oreckhoff itself can be held by the Ukrainians for very long. That brings the Russians all the way up to Zaporosia city itself. All of Zaporosia falls under Russian control.

That brings the Russians to the Dnieper. And the Russians are also advancing towards the Dnieper further north. They've about to capture another important fortified town called Novo Pavlovka. This was expected to be defended by the Ukrainians successfully, or at least we, or months, it appears to have collapsed almost immediately. And beyond all of that, there are increasing signs that a major crisis is also brewing for the Ukrainians of the north in Kharkov. The Russians are about to finish the battle for the town of Olchansk.

That will put them in control, it seems, of all the high ground. around the city of Kharkov itself. It's starting to look as if in a few weeks or months, the situation in Kharkov region in the north is going to be as critical as the situation in Zaporosia is. And all of this, because the Ukrainian army is now desperately short of men, its drones are outmatched by the Russian drones. The Russians, the Russians, The Russian Air Force is now bombing Ukrainian positions. Around the clock, they're producing 120,000 fab bombs a day. The situation on the front lines, as I said, bears all the hallmarks of an early collapse.

So Zelensky is traveling Europe at this time. What do you make of that? Well, it's what he always does when things start to go wrong. He's also, of course, got a political crisis in Kiev, which we've discussed many times with the corruption scandal there. We'll get to that. It's all connected. Everything connects with everything else. So he's got that.

He's also worried no doubt about the budget situation in Ukraine. The budget, the Ukraine is spending double the amount of what it is earning from domestic taxation. In fact, I believe the real situation is much worse. The European Union is finding it increasingly difficult to get persuade people to move forward with its idea of appropriating Russian assets. We've discussed this many, many times. but now Euroclear are coming out and saying that they'll take legal action if anybody orders them to come up with one of these schemes, which shows how bitter and difficult this is becoming. And so what does Zazzynski do? He's got problems on every side. So he flees Kiev, because that's really the man's thing. He runs away from Kiev. He goes and spends time with his friends. He meets Mitsutakis. He meets Mitsutakis.

in Greece, who of course embraces him. I mean, it's incredible that political leaders across Europe continue to give Zelensky the time of day. But anyway, Wittitsake's promises that he's going to open up the roots for liquefied natural gas in the United States to go to Ukraine, as if that can help in anywhere. He's off to France. He's signed some grand strategic partnership plan with Macron. He's on a road trip, as you say. No doubt you'll go to Brussels. Probably he'll meet his dear friend, Kirsteim, who's also on the way out. And eventually, probably he'll end up in Germany too, probably on his way back and have another meeting with his other dear friend, Friedrich Maut. I mean, he is now among friends. So he feels safe, he feels comfortable,

He's got all of their support, all of their friendship. He's got all of these promises and far better to deal with that than a crisis in Kiev and a collapse on the battlefronts and an economy that's plunging towards collapse also. Yeah, so his entertainment buddy, his one-time entertainment buddy, Mintic, has fled to Israel. It looks like Umarov, the one-time defense minister. and now I believe he's president of the Security Council, the National Assembly or something like that anyway. He went to Turkey and then went to Qatar and he hasn't been back in like five, six days.

So it looks like he's bolted. What's left for Elensky in Kiev, outside of mobilization of under 25? I'm just trying to think, what does the West want of Olensky? What more do they want of him? The mobilization of young kids, right? Yes, that's all they have. To continue to fight the conflict.

Yes, that's all that they have because there isn't anything else. I mean, weapons supplies apparently are dwindling. Not because they don't want to give him weapons. They can't. They can't. Well, maybe Norway might give the $140 billion. What do you think? What do you make of that?

The Norwegian wealth, the wealth fund. Welfare funding, you know, it's depleted Norway's Norwegian wealth fair fund. But, you know, they might do that, give him a bit more money, getting through the crisis. I suspect even in Norway that is going to run into some problems. I mean, Norway's sovereign wealth fund has been what Norway depends on for when, you know, its oil revenues go. and it's been its great economic success. I think there'll be political problems with that. But then, you know, Stoltenberg is what?

He's the finance, prime minister. I can't remember. I think he's the finance. Finance, finance. I think. So, of course, he's probably one, you know, he's probably very keen to come up with this. Because that's the one thing all the European leaders want to do is that they want to go on writing checks for Zelensky.

I mean, you know, if their own countries go short, if Norway does away with its welfare funded, France and Britain intensify their budget crisis. Germany wants to go on running up more and more debt. Well, that's fine because we must keep our friend Zelensky going. We must keep him still running. But it's not going to change the situation. The military situation presents intractable problems, which Ukraine and the West, cannot resolve the former British military chief, Lord Richards, made that very same point.

So all of this is throwing good money after bad and it doesn't resolve the underlying problem. But one thing it might give 140 billion euros to Zelensky. If you can't get it from the Russian funds, plunder Norway's sovereign wealth fund. and do that. Then what you've always talked about, close all the various positions in Kiev, pay off all of those people who still want their cut, pile up the money in the suitcases, and go. I mean, that's probably all that's left.

I think you did a post on X in which he said that the worst a situation becomes the more the Europeans are basically cannibalizing everything that they have left, just to keep this thing operating and going. And I think that's what that looks like. As for Umerov, well, of course, the reason he was sent to Turkey, the official reason was to restart negotiations with the Russians on a prisoner exchange. This just a few days after Ukraine's deputy foreign minister told the times that negotiations with Russia had been suspended until the end of the year. But then Umairov, you have to get him out of Kiev to prevent him, had answering questions or being asked questions. So you get him out of Kiev, you send him to Turkey. Then obviously,

negotiations in Turkey are proving sticky, perhaps because the Russians are making their own demands. So he goes off to Qatar and some people are saying to the UAE, places where, let's be straightforward about it, there are all kinds of banks and financial institutions located in these two countries. Perhaps that's more important. Perhaps that's something that you need somebody to go to and in order to straighten out things there before, before, you know, the music stops.

Yeah, it's amazing that all these European leaders are still trying to funnel money to Zelensky even after this corruption scandal, which once again, we've said many times not a lot of money in the grand scheme of Zelensky. A hundred million to Zelensky is a cup of coffee for him. But still, you know, the gold toilet and bags of cash like the Financial Times put it in their article.

it has done a lot of damage to Zelensky, at least people outside of Kiev, outside of Ukraine, they're reading these articles and they're saying, okay, so this is where my money has been going, right? So it makes it harder for the Europeans to get money to Ukraine. I believe Donald Tusk said as much, but they still are trying to do it, which is incredible. It's not only the Europeans that are friends with Zelensky, It's also Donald Trump, who's buddy buddies with Zelensky. And he has announced that Congress is putting together what effectively sounds like an embargo. I mean, they're basically putting together legislation that will block, that will punish, that will punish any country that does business with Russia and Iran.

Iran. Trump was very proud of himself to say that Iran was his suggestion. He's very proud of himself for suggesting. Iran. But Russia and Iran, and it started with Russia, they're going to put together legislation, which will punish any country for doing business with Russia. Yeah. That's an embargo. Yeah. Lindsay Graham, Lindsay Graham will ever again. I mean, this is Lindsay Graham and Richard Blum. And then you have all the articles which are running, saying that the inflation in the United States is due to Russia and the strikes on Russian energy. I mean, it's a lot of, it's It seems like Trump has not got in the memo that Ukraine is going to lose and they're going

to lose big. He's going to take the L and he's going to take the L in a very big way. But it's more escalation for him. Absolutely. I mean, that's the course that he set himself on. And as you can write it correctly correctly. He said the Europeans are busy writing up the checks. But before long, by the way, I would not be surprised if we start to see money checks again

coming from the United States. Trump at the moment says that the United States is not giving any money to Ukraine, which is highly likely soon or later that they will. Just to say, I mean, it is extraordinary. It is baffling. The obsessive quality behind all of this is amazing. But there it is. And as I said, the military situation speaks for itself. Things are getting worse, there is now still this idea that if you increase economic pressure on the Russians, that will somehow turn the situation. That's the narrative, the rationale that's been provided for all of these moves, even as every previous experience tells us that all that does is make the economic situation of

the West worse. doesn't prevent the collapse in Ukraine that is coming. What is an embargo being, though, for the United States, for the world? What if they move forward and actually do pass this legislation? Trump said he's for it. Yes, I know. Trump said he's all for it. He supports it. Yes.

What does that mean? Well, what it means is that more of more countries around the world are going to stop trading with the United States, or they're going to stop openly trading with the United States, they're going to start finding workarounds because that is what they will have no real option but to do. It's not a question of liking the Russians or not liking the Russians. People need oil. People need great. People need the kind of things that Russia has. These are indispensable things. And Russia is so integrated into world supply chain. that it is impossible for countries to stop trading with Russia in the way that the United States,

or there are some people in the United States, things. And anyway, just to repeat a point which we've made previously, Russia is a self-sufficient economy. It is a vast continental economy. It's so sufficient. It's energy. It's so sufficient in food. It's got a strong industrial base. It's got a strong scientific base. trying to blockade Russia is a fool's idea. It cannot work. And of course, China will never agree to it. And as we've already seen, China has decisive leverage over the United States in relation to this. There's already, again, there's an article today in the Financial Times about the fact that the problem with the Expedia chips is completely unsolved.

There's still massive shortages of those. They're devastating the European car industry. They're affecting the American car industry. And we've discussed the rare earth situation many, many times too. And they're still obsessed with keeping this thing going. It's amazing. They all see that they're going to lose, but they just can't stop. Yeah.

Including the United States, including President Trump. And the Russians, you know, just to also just mention the Russians, the Russians are asked about Trump. After Trump says he wants to blockade an embargo Russia, what's the response from Russia? Well, you know, Trump is someone we can work with because he understands the root causes. I know you. I know. Make it make sense. I don't know.

Maybe it's just Russian diplomacy. I don't know. maybe they're just... Well, to be honest, for me... It's a bad look. It is a bad look. For me, though, it is starting to get a kind of ritual quality. Yeah.

These comments from the Russians, one gets the sense that all conviction has been draining away. And Lavrov, who has clearly been authorized to do this, has been giving one interview and press conference. after another, which it seems to me has been steadily destroying Trump's position. I mean, he's now given us a full account of what happened in Anchorage. We now have clear understanding of what happened between Putin and Trump. When they last spoke on the telephone, we now know that the expectation in Moscow

and effectively the promise Trump gave. gave to Putin was after the call that he would speak to Zelensky and get Zelensky to accept Istanbul Plus, including the withdrawal from Donbass. And as we know, Trump caved to what Zelensky wanted. And, you know, we're getting more information from the Russians about all of this every day. And they're now coming back and they're saying that, yes, of course, we're prepared to meet Trump. But it must be on the basis of what we agreed with him in our Anchorage. In other words, Istanbul Plus. In other words, now what could have been a deal at Trump gone ahead with it after Anchorage will come to be seen by most people as a capitulation.

Yeah. All right. We will end the video there. The durand. Dotlocos.com. We are on X and Rumble and Telegram. And also look for us on Substack. There's a link to our substack in the description box down below. Take care.