The Duran Podcast - Russia advances. Ukraine attacks fall apart

Episode Date: March 19, 2025

Russia advances. Ukraine attacks fall apart

All right, Alexander, let's talk about the situation on the front lines in Ukraine. Let's talk about Kersk. Let's talk about what's happening in Dombas, the advances of the Russian military in Zaporosia, in the south, in the direction of Zaporosia, Herzl. We got Torezk, a lot of information coming out of Torezsk as well. But we also have this information rumors. say, but believable rumors. And it is coming from a pretty reputable Russian media source in Ria Novosti. They interviewed a Russian official or someone in the resistance of, I believe, Nikolayev, who has been pretty accurate in the past, who said that in Kursk, you have 30

NATO officers who are actually trapped. in Kursk. And that that might be the reason that Trump set out, set out that true social post to Putin in order to to spare the lives of those soldiers trapped in Kersk. Perhaps you do have NATO officials. Perhaps you have a lot more than just NATO officials. Perhaps you have NATO military as well in Kursk. Why not? You know, many people believe that when Merkel ran to Moscow during 2015 with the Batsarvaux, the main reason that she was begging Putin for the Mitzkwan agreement was because there were NATO forces trapped in Ukraine. And that would have been a huge defeat and embarrassment.

Anyway, what are your thoughts on what's happening on the front line? And your thoughts on these rumors from... Let's talk about the rumors first. I mean, the fact that they've come out in a place like really a novicey, which is a semi-official Russian news agency, lends the... some credence. But of course, I don't know for a fact that they are true. If they are true, it would in no way surprise me. I mean, I think that's the first thing to say. If they are true, it means that NATO military personnel have entered what is even NATO recognizes Russian territory.

so they would have invaded Russian territory, which would have been, which would be a dramatic and extraordinary thing. Bear in mind that if an armed man crosses a border, it's an act of war. You send an armed man across a border. It's an act of war. It would be a further act of war by NATO against Russia. And, well, but having said that, I mean, I don't know for a fact that it is true. I'm not saying, if I don't know that it is true.

If it is true, then as I said, it is very, very important. The consistent practice, if these earlier rumors have also been true and nothing has ever been confirmed is that this is so explosive, the presence of NATO forces in these kind of operations is so explosive that there's been some kind of understanding between the Russians of the Western powers, that the Russians won't play this up and they won't parade the existence of these officers and that kind of thing. I guess more likely to happen this time, because of course the Russians know perfectly well that if they capture Western officers and show them and show that they were in course,

I mean, it would probably destroy whatever prospect there is for negotiations. So we may not never find out the full truth about this. Whereas it's interesting that these rumors exist. And the other reason why I think there may be some, there may be truths of these rumors is that I've come to the very, very clear view that the West was heavily involved in every aspect of the course cooperation, right down to its planning, to its execution, to the spotting of,

targets inside Russian targets inside Kusk for the Western militaries to strike out. So, you know, I don't know. I can't say that I know. But if it's true, it doesn't surprise me. So that's what I'm going to say about those rumors. About the overall military situation, the Russians over the last three weeks have won the single be the single most clear-cut, most decisive battle that they have fought in the entire period of the special military operation. This was a very significant Ukrainian force that was inserted

into Kusk region. It occupied Russian territory. Zelensky refused to withdraw it. He continued continuously to reinforce it. There were some of Ukraine's best troops located in this territory. The Russians then launched an extremely well-prepared and carefully thought out attack. Upon it, they'd prepared the ground for this attack over many months. Any stories, by the way, that this was somehow an agreed withdrawal negotiated between Putin and Trump is absolute Nonsense. Anybody who can see how this attack was prepared can see that the planning for it must have gone back at least to December. Just saying, they won a clear-cut victory. It's likely, very likely, that there are Ukrainian troops trapped in Kusk, not probably just in one place, but in several places. and the interesting thing, again, is that Ukrainian defenses were not just disorganized, but they collapsed almost immediately. And that suggests to me that the Ukrainian military as a whole,

because remember, these are some of the best troops Ukraine had, that the Ukrainian military as a whole has now been so weakened by three years of attrition that it is in a much more fragile position than some people in the West imagine. And the latest reports from elsewhere on the battlefront suggests this. So over the course of February, as the Russians reorganized and rotated, the Ukrainians started to publish stories that the battle for Touretz was still underway. The Russians said that they'd captured Toretsk. I think it was in February, but the Ukrainians denied this. They brought a team from the Daily Telegraph. They didn't take them to Torretz, by the way or anywhere close to Torres, but they still

breathed them and they showed them screens of banks of computers, which supposedly showed drone strikes on Torresk and that kind of thing. So then, of course, they needed to reinforce the story that they really were present in Toretsk. So they launched a series of counterattacks on Torex. those counter-attacks have miscarried horribly. And as of the time of making this program, DS, Deep State, Ukraine's own mapping project is now admitting that the Russians are recapturing territory or capturing territory from the Ukrainians, which I believe the Russians actually have been in control of or effective control of.

For several weeks, maybe the Ukrainians re-entered it. But we see that these counterattacks overall have failed and failed horribly. So that's Torres. That's the story of Torres. The Ukrainians did mount certain significant counterattacks around Pachrovsk. They appeared to have made some attempt to use the wet conditions of the spring thaw and problems that the Russians had with communications in the area to try to recover some ground. Those counter attacks have also failed. The Russians are saying that they're now back on the advance around Pakrovsk, and quite plausibly, if there's no ceasefire, we could see Pakrovsk fall within the next couple of weeks.

Chassevya, it's the same. And the Russians have established what looks like an enormous bridgehead now across the Osgole River in Kharkov region. And this, again, DS is suddenly revealing that the Russians control a huge additional belt of territory, which they've either captured in the last couple of days or have been gradually capturing over a long period of, you know, several days or weeks. But anyway, the point is that the Russians now look poised to launch a major offensive in Kharkov region as well. So the picture right across the front lines is of Ukrainian defenses becoming increasingly ragged. The Ukrainians trying to put on a show over the last few weeks that not only have stabilized

the situation, but have somehow gone on the attack in several places, only to have everything fall apart on them. Budanov, the intelligence chief, said a couple of weeks ago to a closed meeting of the Ukrainian parliament that unless there's a piece of some kind by the summer, Ukraine will collapse. And the events of the last couple of weeks suggest that that is absolutely true. Why would Russia agree to a ceasefire if they're so close to capturing Pakor Krakovsk and Shasovyaar and Torezsk. I mean, we did a lot of videos on Pakrovsk, for example, that it was a key logistics hub, key for Ukraine.

And if Pachrovsk is captured, then pretty much everything begins to unravel in Dombas. Why would they agree to stop all of these advances when they're so close to having the Ukraine military crumble along the entire Dombas front line? No less a person than Putin asked that very question in his press conference with Lucas Shank. If you actually go through what he said, I mean, he doesn't quite pose it in that way because he's clearly very anxious to maintain his relationship with Trump. But he basically said this. He said, if I was Ukraine, I would absolutely want to ceasefire this time because my situation is becoming increasingly desperate. Whereas on, our part, we're advancing right across the front lines. So a ceasefire works to Ukraine's

advantage, but not to ours. That is what Putin said. Now, why are the Russians talking about a ceasefire? Well, he basically answered that question in a further meeting he had with his security council on the day after, which is that they do want to improve relations with the Americans, as we've discussed many times in programs after program, they want some kind of understanding with the Americans so that they can have secure security on their Western borders. The Russians talk about this all the time. It's strange that people don't see this. Putin talks about this all the time.

So this is why the Russians are prepared to talk and discuss all of these. things. But it's important to remember that they are advancing. And this idea that some people in the United States are promoting, people like Mike Wals and even White Wicke off from time to time, that this is a stalemate situation, that this is trench warfare like the First World War, that if the war goes on, it will go on forever and all of that. This is absolutely not the reality of the situation that we actually have. It is of the Russians coming very close now to the point where Ukrainian resistance starts to break down. And any threat to them of increasing Western arms deliveries is not going to intimidate them because it's not going to change the situation.

and any attempt to impose sanctions on them isn't going to intimidate them either because they've, well, we've talked about this before, they've managed to get through the sanctions that have been imposed in the past, and any new sanctions will cause further major economic problems for the West, as even the Financial Times and the Guardian are now admitting. So from a Russian point of view, yes, they are prepared to negotiate a settlement in their own interests because doing so, if it gives them what they want, not only will mean that fewer Russian soldiers die, but will also hopefully create a more permanent peace and will lead to an easing of tensions in Europe so that the Russians can go back and focus on their own

development, which is what they've always talked about. But if they don't get the terms they want, they have the option of continuing. And I think they're given the clearest indications that they will. If you look at the program that we did with Ambassador Polianski from, you know, the deputy head of mission to the United Nations, that's exactly what he said. We've got our mission, our objectives, they're set out in the special military operation. We would prefer to achieve them through peaceful means. But if we can't, we will achieve them by continuing with the special military operation. And I think that is the Russian position. Yeah, Trump is really trying to get Ukraine out of this mess at the ceasefire. You know, it's interesting what you say, because

what he's actually said, and he said this on truth, so. It's very, very interesting. post that he published, which, interestingly enough, didn't refer to Ukraine at all. He said that Biden got the United States into a mess with Russia. He's not, I mean, I'm not saying that he doesn't care about Ukraine at all. But I think he understands at some level that the United States is looking at a potential military defeat him. Exactly. And I think this is one of the reasons. why he's pushing for a peace agreement with the Russians so urgently. He's got all sorts of other very good reasons for wanting a peace agreement. He's got a massively ambitious domestic program.

He wants to focus on that. He doesn't want problems around the world. He doesn't want to expend more resources, more US resources on what is basically a black hole, which is Ukraine. But ultimately, I think he senses. Perhaps he's even been briefed about it, that Ukraine is going down and he doesn't want the US to go down with it. Yeah, because it's the US's proxy war with Russia. Exactly.

Which is what Rubio has said and other people that said it. Kellogg has said it. Exactly. Yeah. Absolutely. And instead of it being a US defeat, Trump turns it around so that he becomes the peace negotiator of his... Of the US's proxy war with Russia.

I mean, that's essentially what we're looking at. The US is in a proxy war with Russia, but Trump, he does his thing and he makes it out as if the US has mediated the peace between Ukraine and Russia. Exactly. And he comes up the peacemaker instead of the loser in this conflict. Yeah. Exactly. And he is very, very relieved that the Russians are helping him do that.

And that was... Yeah, the Russians are helping him. Yeah. Absolutely, because the Russians understand that he's the only president they are likely to get who is going to deliver on that understanding about situations in Europe that, you know, that they basically want so that they can focus, as I said already, on their own internal development and not have to worry all the time about, you know, pinpricks and attacks and seizure of their property and all of that kind of thing, which has been a massive distraction.

I mean, it's not just a distraction in terms of resources, in terms of what the Russians have to do, to parry all these attacks on themselves. But it's a massive using up of mental energy. I mean, Putin may be an incredibly impressive individual, but there are only so many hours in the day. If Burden wants to develop, you know, Russia's railway system, for example, every minute and hour that he spends worrying about what Ursula and previously, you know, Jake Sullivan and all

of those people were up to, is a distraction from that. So pull all that aside, if we can get this sorted out with Trump, even if it's only for a couple of years that will give us the time and space to fix all of these major problems in our country that are crying out for solution. So, again, I am not speculating or guessing about this. The Russians themselves say this, and never more forcefully than Putin himself in a speech that he gave to the foreign ministry

back in September 2021. All right, we will end the video there. The durand.com. We are on Rumble Odyssey, Bitchie, Telegraphfin, X. Go to the Duran Shop. pick up some merch like what we are wearing in this video update. You will find a link in the description box down below. Take care.