The Duran Podcast - Long range missiles and Ukraine's last defense line

Episode Date: September 27, 2025

Long range missiles and Ukraine's last defense line

All right, Alexander, let's discuss the military situation in Ukraine. Lots of developments going on. What's the situation on the front lines? Well, there's been an actual transformation, which nobody has, as far as I know, talked about in one important aspect of the military situation. And that must reflect the realities of the military situation as well, which is that the Russian Defense Ministry, which is that the Russian Defense Ministry, which is, has been up to now incredibly tight-lived about giving us updates, about what is actually going

on on the battlefronts, is now providing us with detailed information about what is happening in specific battles. Now, this is remarkable. It is a complete change, and I cannot see it as anything other than a reflection of immense and growing Russia. confidence. Clearly, the Russians believe that things are going their way. That means that they can now discuss in detail and at an official level what is happening on particular battlefronts. And they can even disclose information about their future plans. So in that respect, we're better informed about the situation in the war than we had ever been because one of the defence ministries is now telling us, it's giving us its account of what is happening

there. So the main battle, in my opinion, continues to be Pakrovsk. The Russian defence ministry is not providing us with a huge amount of information about Prekrovsk, which suggests that the battle there remains extremely fiercely fought, and We know that the Ukrainians have concentrated many of their best troops there. But other information sites inside Russia are giving us their accounts, which differ starkly from Ukrainian accounts, but which I believe to be true. The Russians said, in fact, they said on the morning that we're making this video, that they have Pakrovsk effectively surrounded.

They say that they're advancing deeper into central Bakrosk. They probably control about 40% of the town by now. They are closing, they're closed off all the main roads. And yesterday they also said that there's an important village. It's actually more like a small town, immediately to the north of Bakros. called Rodinska, which lies on one of the main supply roads, and they say that they've surrounded it, and that there's 1,000 Ukrainian troops there, and that those troops are now trapped. And they also say that a Ukrainian brigade, the 79th brigade, has been effectively destroyed

in southern Pakarovsk and in the area of Mirnograd, and that the Russians are advancing there. So that is perhaps the single most important battle, but the Russians are claiming progress. Now elsewhere, and I think now we're entering into territory where the Russians are providing us a lot more information, and which to a great extent, by the way, the Ukrainians are corroborating. The Russian Defence Ministry says they now control two-thirds of Kupiansk. And again, this morning, they made claims that they've captured more of Kupiansk. They also said that there's a Ukrainian unit, a battalion in Kupiansk, which is surrounded. So the battle for Kupiansk is turning very bad for the Ukrainians.

They are talking, they gave information about a battle that is taking place near a town called Lehman, which is located close to the city of Slaviansk. There's fighting being going on for a village called Zvarichny near Liman. They say up to three Ukrainian brigades were defending this village. Now, that is a very large force. Ukrainian brigades are said to be down to about a third or a fifth of strength. So that might mean perhaps 2,000 men, but that's a lot of people to defend a single village, which shows how important for the Ukrainians this village was.

Anyway, the Russians are saying that this village has almost been cleared. The Russians are saying that they've basically encircled Seversk. They are also clearing the Ukrainian forces south of a reservoir south of Constantinian. that the Ukrainian forces there are down to 80 men out of 800 that the were just a few days ago. The others have been killed or captured or wounded or whatever, and they continue to advance towards the city of Zaporosia. And the Russians have also given us information about what they are planning to do. They say that once Kukyansk falls, they will advance south to capture a town called

Eizium, which is located to the north of Slaviansk, that they will try to recapture this place. They used to hold it for a short time in 2022, and that they will also advance northwards towards Kharkov. So it's a situation where the Russians appear to be advancing all across the conflict line and appear to be becoming more confident as well. What is NATO and the European Union saying to all of this? Well, the official story, and repeated now by the President of the United States, but expressed by President Zelensky and General Kellogg and Mark Rutter and all of these people, is that the Russians are making no progress at all, that Ukraine is actually winning.

All is well. The situation is completely under control. NATO is going to be buying arms from the United States, arms that the United States is in very great short supply of. It can't supply Patriot missile interceptors anymore because its inventor is a Patriot missile interceptors and they're so reduced. They're going to buy weapons. They're going to send more weapons to Ukraine. And they're going to give the Ukrainians who are, of course, winning the war, more money. That is what they're going to do. That is what they're going to do. And they are not going to make any diplomatic initiatives. They're not going to come up with any military strategies. The idea of security guarantees appears to have been kicked into the long grass. Nobody can agree on that. There's talk about building up their defenses in Eastern Europe, their air defenses especially, but they're arguing about whether it's a good idea to show.

shoot down Russian jets. The Germans and the French say it isn't the polls of the Baltic States say it is, that there's no consensus about this. So the short answer is they're doing nothing. Zelensky said in an interview with Axios that Trump has given him the green light to shoot, to shoot down Russian or to strike Russian. territory and if Russia goes after the energy infrastructure, then the United States is going to provide the weapons to go after Russia. What do you make of that? Well, I think that this was said after a conversation between Trump and Zelensky that lasted all of seven minutes. Did you believe? No, I don't believe it. I don't believe it. In fact, the messaging from the Pentagon is that the United States continues to be opposed to long distance, long-win strikes deep inside Russia using missiles. And bear in mind, Zelensky has been floating the idea

of missile strikes deep inside Russia. Since July, he said that Ukraine had his own missiles. You remember the Flamingo Cruz missile, the big U.S. missile, remember that? Where is it? The Sapsan and all of that. Where are they? So for the moment, at least, we're not seeing it. And of course, Zelensky is also talking now about Ukraine launching another offensive. He doesn't make clear where or with what. I mean, anyway, Zelensky says these things. And I think mostly they are intended to impress people in Ukraine and particularly in Kiev. And probably they're intended to impress some people in Europe as well.

But I don't think anybody takes it seriously anymore. Anybody who's informed about the war takes this seriously. The Ukrainians try an offensive. The Russians will be delighted just to say. Can they try an offensive? I mean, do they even have the manpower for such a thing? Well, they could probably find some people to attack somewhere. If they do that, they will lose more men.

I was given some information about the losses that the Ukrainians suffered in the Kusk offensive. And it seems that they were as bad as the... losses the Ukrainians suffered in the 2023 summer offensive, and the losses that the Ukrainians suffered in that offensive were as much as high as the losses they suffered in the Bahmert battles. Wherever the Ukrainians go on the attack, all that happens is that they lose more of their men, more of their machines, and they achieve nothing. So it's probably something that the Russians would be delighted with. And at this stage, in the war, If it's done, it will only hasten what is increasingly looking as the now inevitable collapse.

Zelensky stated that Trump promised to consider providing Kiev with weapons that would make Putin sit at the negotiating table. Your thoughts? What weapons? Which weapons? Nuclear weapons? Obviously. What he told Axios? Yeah, that will make them sit at the negotiating table. We're hearing that line a lot now, right? We have to get him to sit at the negotiating table. Even Lindsay Graham says this line over and over again. When what they mean by that is capitulate. Again, I mean, we should, the dishonesty of this language, again, is extraordinary.

But the United States has given everything to Ukraine that it realistically can. I mean, it cannot do more. All right. I mean, you know, Earth 35s, stealth fighters. We're getting into that kind of world now. I mean, they're given incredibly advanced weapons. There is no further weapons that the United States can give to Ukraine that can change the dynamic on the battlefronts.

We've been hearing about the new weapons that will change the situation on the battlefronts since the summer of 2022, the M-Triple-7-Howitz said, the biractor drones, the Haimars missiles, the attack-em missiles, the storm shadows, the tanks, the lepertus and the Abrams tanks. All of those things have come and gone. The F-16s. Do you remember the F-16s? The Patriot missiles, they've given them all. Nothing, nothing has worked.

Why assume that anything ever will? All right. Anything else that you want to add to the updates? Yes. Yes. Again, it's a point I really do want to make, which is, that we are now, it seems to me, coming close to what I think is going to be the climactic battle. And this is, by the way, what the Russian Defence Ministry was saying.

Yucupiansk falls, all of these other places, when these places fall, that will leave only two cities in Donbass, still under Ukrainian control. These are Slaviansk Kramatosk. It's the last defense line. Beyond it, there is nothing until you reach the NEPA. there is supposed to be a Ukrainian defense line being created to the west of these places. But people who've been studying the territory using satellites can't find no trace of it. All right, we will end the video there. The durand.com.

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