The Duran Podcast - Russia military gains wake up US. EU remains delusional

Episode Date: November 29, 2025

Russia military gains wake up US. EU remains delusional

All right, Alexander, let's talk about the military situation in Ukraine because it is the military situation that is driving all of the diplomacy, if you want to call it diplomacy, the negotiations, if you want to call it negotiations, the panic out of the collective west, the deep state, the neocans, the Europeans. It is everything that is happening on the front lines that is causing all of this reaction and this chaos and this frantic push to try and get some sort of, a deal between Ukraine and Russia, the United States and Russia. So the situation on the front line is going from bad to worse with each passing day.

Even Driscoll, the U.S. Army Secretary is acknowledging the fact that Ukraine cannot win, that there will be an imminent defeat, his words, that's a direct quote, an imminent defeat of Ukraine. He also said that Russia outproduces. continues to outproduce the West. And he said that the U.S. cannot provide the weapons that Ukraine is asking for in order to keep up with Russian military production. Very interesting statements from Driscoll, admissions from Driscoll. Absolutely. And bear in mind, he's a Pentagon official. I mean, he is in the Pentagon. He presumably gets all of the intelligence from the Defense Intelligence Agency

and whoever. And he's right. I mean, everything that he said was, is true. And we'll go over the military situation shortly. But when Driscoll tried to explain this to the Europeans, the European ambassadors and diplomats in Kiev, after he met with Zelensky in Yermak, the Europeans were furious. They said, you know, they, perhaps one European official said, it was repugnant listening to all of this. And we now know that Driscoll was supposed to come to a meeting in London, and apparently the atmosphere was so hostile to him that he decided to call off the visit, because again, the Europeans didn't want to hear this, and the British in particular didn't want to hear this. It's extraordinary, the extent to which people in the West still want to live in their world of illusion, because that's what. it is clearly now becoming. Let's just do a quick round-up of what the situation is on the front

lines. I mean, in some ways, even more critical now than Dombas, and perhaps the even bigger sort of the panic is that it's now looking increasingly, as if the entire Ukrainian position is Zaporosia is now rapidly collapsing. So shortly before we started making this program, reports started to circulate that the Russians have begun to storm the town of Guillaipoli in southern Zaporosia region. Now, it's not a huge place. I think it's about 15,000 people before the war. I mean, it's famous. It's famous in Russian history and Ukrainian history for all sorts of reasons. It's also been involved in literature and all that. So it's a place that people in, Russia and people in Ukraine would have heard of. And of course, if it falls, then it opens the way for

the Russians to advance rapidly westwards towards the city of Zaporosia itself, because there are no major obstacles in the way. There are no great fortified lines or prepared positions to hold the Russians back west of Gulliapolier. There is just one other town, O'Rejov. The Russians have already reached O'Rejov. They've surrounded it from the south and from the east. They captured recently a village called Malaya Tokmatska, which is basically a suburb of O'Rejov itself. O'Rejov also is not a big place. If the Russians capture all of these places, reach from the east, Zaporosia. They're already very close to Zaporosia from the south. If they reach these Zaporosia city from the east.

Zaporosia city, most of it, is on the east bank of the Nipa. The Russians could cut off the supplies from the west bank, because the supplies would have to come across bridges, and it would be impossible to do that. It would be either the Ukrainians would decide to try to defend the city of Zaporosia, in which case it would be another call. and they would be trapped there, or they would have to abandon Zaporosia. Zaborogia is one of the biggest cities in Ukraine.

I believe it had a pre-war population of around 800,000. Some people say more. It's a major industrial centre. It's the center, for example, of Ukraine's gas turbine industry. It's where the big jet engines and the head. and the helicopter engines for the Soviet Union used to be made. It used to produce also engines for Soviet cruise missiles. But there's a lot of other things in Zaporosia as well, car factories, all kinds of things.

It's one of the key industrial centres of Ukraine, located in the central area of the Dnieper. I've pointed out many times. If the Russians captured these places, it's a terminal blow for Ukraine. And by the way, if the Russians cross the Nipa in Soporosje, and reach the West Bank, then it's an open road to Odessa itself. It's much easier to advance towards Adessa from that part of Ukraine, then it would be if you recaptured Hassan and tried to advance along the coast to Odessa where there's lots of rivers and streams.

that could act as obstacles in your way. So this is a massive crisis and it's one that has, you know, caught up with the Ukrainians and with the West very suddenly and the Ukrainians don't seem to be able to hold the Russians back there. Further north, the Russians are advancing in Nehropotrovsk region. According to the Russian media, the most important fortified position the Ukrainians held in the Repropetrovs region. A town called Novo Pavlitska is about to fall as well. The Russian media are claiming the Russians control around 80% of it, if that is true, and there's less information about what is going on there than the Russians can advance because, again, there's no major fortified lines or positions or natural obstacles. They can

advance all the way along the road, all the way to the city of NEPRO on the deeper itself. And that is potentially an even worse crisis than the fall of Zaporosia city would be. Then we come to Pachrosk, and here we're getting lots of media spin. The Ukrainians are still claiming they're making big counter-attacks and are successful and they are infiltrating their troops into Pachrosk itself and that there's a battle going on in Pachrovsk. I don't think anybody who's followed the battle closely has any belief in any of that. The Ukrainians have spun this story many times. I remember how a couple of months ago, for example, they were claiming that they'd recaptured a town called Toretsk

after the Russians had captured it. They did send raiding parties in Toresk, and they did produce some videos there, but it all turned out to be basically PR again. I think it's exactly the same with Pachrosk. In fact, according to the Russians, they are methodically clearing Pachrosk, two of the big micro-districts. The two biggest micro-districts are now under Russian control, and the Russians are apparently clearing the remains. And in Mernograd, where the Ukrainian army, the most, the bulk of the Ukrainian troops and the Bakkrovsk, Mernograd conurbation are located. In Mernograd, the Ukrainians are tightly surrounded, and most of Mildograd is apparently now again also under Russian control. Further, further east and north reports are, and apparently these are coming.

also from the Ukrainians themselves that the Russians have captured perhaps half, perhaps more of the fortified town of Sivask, which is a major fortified position that the Ukrainians had. In northern Dombas, it was basically the outer defenses of the key town of Slaviansk, the other place that the the Russians are apparently now also fighting in. Is Lehman? It looks as if that part of the front line is collapsing. And some are saying that Siviris also is about to fall. So the whole military situation on the ground is catastrophic.

It's not bad. It's catastrophic. And as you rightly said, getting worse every day. And of course, the Russians in the meantime continue to pound Ukraine regularly, with missiles and drones, the energy system is in crisis, the industrial sector is in a point of collapse, and of course Ukraine is in a deep financial hole with tax revenue collapsing and budget spending exploding. So unless they get their 140 billion euro loan or something like that from the European

Union. By February, we can very easily see a hyperinflation crisis developing in Ukraine too. So that's the overall situation. Yeah, that loan, if they do get it, it is going to last them six months. The European Union says two years, they're going to burn through that money in six months. And we all know what the bulk of that money is going to go to or where it's going to go. And I'll tell you right now, it's not going to go. A lot of that money is not going to go to But anyway, that's such a separate video. Kales, the top diplomat of Europe, said in a statement that the narrative that Ukraine is losing on the front lines is false.

We've had Ukraine parliament members and I believe some military officials also make statements that Ukraine losing is false. Yeah. The situation, as you said, in Bakrovsk, is not catastrophic. And actually, Ukraine is pushing back and making. very effective counter-offensive operations. Why the delusion? Do you think this is real? My first question to you is, do you think they actually believe it? Okay, maybe Kaya Kalis does actually believe it. But do you think that, for example, the military officials in Ukraine

are the parliament members that are coming out with these statements or other U.S. officials, neocons, etc. that are saying, no, no, no, no, Ukraine is not losing. It's all false. Do you think they actually believe that or they're just trying to con everybody? And then why? Why do they want to con everybody? Why the delusion about the military situation? It's an excellent question, actually. First of all, I think that there are still a few brave people who do want to believe it,

who believe it because they want to believe it. I mean, Kaya Kallas obviously wants to believe it. Others want to believe it too, because. They've constructed their entire understanding of the conflict on that, on the assumption, that Ukraine is winning, that Ukraine must win, that the Russians are incompetent, ineffective, that their economy is the size of Italy's or smaller, that, and for them suddenly to admit to themselves that all of that is wrong would be to basically admit that their entire worldview is wrong. So there are some people like that. Still, that number is shrinking every day. But the major reason, the major reason why these narratives are being promoted is because they want to stop the negotiating process from proceeding. They want to say, look, the Americans are pushing this urgently because they say that Ukraine,

is going to lose. It's on the imminent, it faces an imminent prospect of collapse. The Russians are saying that, but the Russians are lying. Of course they must be lying. So we don't need to negotiate with the Russians and we don't need to make concessions about Ukraine at all. And that's why they continue to claim these false things, what they say is instead, what we really need to do is we got the Russians on the ropes. So let's escalate even further. Let's increase sanctions. Let's supply or deploy Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine. All we need to do is that. And then the Russians will capitulate and come to the table and we will dictate terms. So that's why they are pretending. that the situation is under control.

Now, when the point will finally come, when they acknowledge that this is no longer true, that remains to be seen. Maybe when the Russians reached Zaporosia, but sometimes I wonder with some people whether it would take the Russians to actually capture Kiev itself before they will accept the reality.

I wonder if even then they would accept the reality. After the reality of Pakrovsk sets in, after the Russian Ministry of Defense announces the capture of Pakrovska Mirnograd, what's next, Slaviansk, Gramatorsk, and that's it, right? Yes, I mean, that's it. I mean, I think the first thing to happen, after Pakrovsk's Mernograd fall, the next place which will fall very quickly is Konstantinovka, which is the city immediately to the east, which is, by the way, bigger than Pakorovsk.

And then basically all you have left are Slaviansk and Kramatosk, and they will be in circles. And this is going to be a major test for what the Ukrainians do, because if Pakrovsk, Konstantinovka, and a town to the north of Slavians, called EZium, are captured by the Russians. And everybody can see that EZUM is now very much a target. In fact, one of the Russian commanders who was reporting to Putin disclosed that he refers to his forces as fighting in the EZUM direction, which tells you that EZUM is absolutely a Russian objective. Anyway, if all of these places fall, Constantinika, Pachrovsk, EZUM, Charsovya has, of

course, already fallen, and Constantinuk were about to fall. all of these places full, then if the Ukrainians try to defend Slaviansk, Kramatosk, they will be surrounded and we will have the biggest cauldron of the war by far.

And then we would be justified in making comparisons with Stalin. Well, all right. We will end the video there. The durand.com. we're on X Telegram and Rumble.

We are also on Substack and go to the Duran Shop, pick up some merch. The links are in the description box down below. Take care.