Battleground

In this episode from the road in Ukraine Saul and Patrick discuss Donald Trump's inaugural presidential address. Their reflections on it a day later and also their immediate response with friend of the show American journalist Joe Lindsey. Please do follow us wherever you get your podcasts to hear everything from us on the ground in Ukraine. If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - [email protected] Producer: James Hodgson X: @PodBattleground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode we return in person to Ukraine, but we start in Ukraine's neighbouring state of Moldova, a fellow former soviet republic where we were joined by friend of the podcast Julius Strauss and Kimberley Reczek. Prior to our arrival they had spent the day in Transnistria, a tiny breakaway region of Moldova which is effectively controlled by Russia, they gave us some fascinating insight into this relatively unknown and fascinating region. We also document the first stages of our latest trip into Ukraine, with our first stop in the historic Ukrainian Black Sea city of Odesa. If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - [email protected] Producer: James Hodgson X: @PodBattleground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week, Saul and Patrick discuss the incoming Trump administration plans or lack thereof, for bringing the war in Ukraine to a peaceful settlement. They also have a look at the ongoing diplomatic spat between Zelenskyy and neighbouring Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, and take a deeper look at the news that Ukrainian forces have captured their first North Korean prisoners. If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - [email protected] Producer: James Hodgson X: @PodBattleground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of Battleground '45, Saul is joined by historian Keith Lowe to discuss their upcoming history tour along the Elbe. The Elbe river runs down from Czechia right through the heart of Germany, together they map out some of the remarkable and sobering tales of history that happened in many of the locations they will be visiting on the tour, including Operation Anthropoid, the bombing of Dresden, and a remarkable escape story from Königstein Castle. To find out more visit www.ww2museumtours.org or email [email protected] If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - [email protected] Producer: James Hodgson X: @PodBattleground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this bonus episode of Battleground: Ukraine, Saul and Patrick address a wide range of listeners questions, from possible peace negotiation strategies to Ukrainian Air Force capabilities, and why did Russian gas pipelines passing through Ukraine remain open? Interested in supporting the Augustae Annia Foundation in Ukraine? Then follow the link below to find out more. https://www.augustaeannia.com/donation-links If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - [email protected] Producer: James Hodgson X: @PodBattleground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With President Trump’s inauguration only ten days away speculation swirling around as to whether the last chapter in the Ukraine war is about to open. Together Saul and Patrick look at how Trump will approach this first great problem facing his leadership. But they also turn to Russia and Putin in particular. To help them look at how things may play out inside the Kremlin they'll be talking to Alan Philps, longtime Moscow correspondent for Reuters and the Daily Telegraph and veteran Russia watcher who gives his thoughts about how things may play out in the coming year. If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - [email protected] Producer: James Hodgson X: @PodBattleground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode Saul and Patrick will be looking forward to how the Second World War developed in its final year, highlighting the hinge moments and giving you a taste of the treats in store as week by week they look back to events eighty years ago. If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - [email protected] Producer: James Hodgson X: @PodBattleground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the first Battleground: Ukraine podcast of 2025, Saul and Patrick speak to friend of the podcast Askold Khruselnysky, who spent Christmas close the front lines with a Ukrainian Unit specialising in innovative forms of drone warfare. In his dispatch from Kyiv he describes how this unit was able to successfully launch and carry out an assault with only unmanned vehicles in perhaps the first fully automated battle of the war. If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - [email protected] Producer: James Hodgson X: @PodBattleground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week on Battleground '45 Patrick is joined by author Mark Ellis, to discuss an often overlooked aspect of life during the second world war, the world of crime. The conditions of wartime Britain led to a crime boom, with new opportunities arising for those criminals seeking to take advantage and profit whilst the authorities were often overwhelmed. If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - [email protected] Producer: James Hodgson X: @PodBattleground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this last podcast of 2024, Saul and Patrick will be ranging over the big moments in the Ukraine conflict in all its various dimensions and trying to see what they tell us about how 2025 will unfold. If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - [email protected] Producer: James Hodgson X: @PodBattleground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Joining Saul to discuss the multiple westward offensives of the Soviet Red Army in the winter of 1944/45 is friend of the podcast Evan Mawdsley. Together they discuss the multiple Soviet Armies that advanced into Europe following the expulsion of German forces from the Soviet Union's borders, and how political decisions dictated the deployment of the Red Army as Stalin sought to seize control and influence over Eastern and Central Europe. If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - [email protected] Producer: James Hodgson X: @PodBattleground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In a now annual Battleground tradition, for a special Christmas treat we've recorded a special festive episode discussing the standout history books of the year, and the wider stories that surround them. Saul and Roger are joined by friends of the podcast - fellow historian Jessie Childs and publicist and historical novelist Richard Foreman. Producer: James Hodgson X: @PodBattleground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode Saul and Patrick digest the two major events of the past week: Donald Trump’s interview with Time magazine, with some highly revealing comments on the Russia/Ukraine war. And the extraordinary assassination of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, the head of the Russian nuclear, chemical and biological protection forces, by agents of the Ukrainian security service in Moscow. If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - [email protected] Producer: James Hodgson X: @PodBattleground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the final days of 1944 the Red Army closed in on the Hungarian capital of Budapest, and amidst the utter chaos of the siege members of the Hungarian fascist party, the Arrow Cross, ran riot massacring the city's jewish population. Joining Patrick, to discuss this often overlooked chapter of the Second World War is author and journalist Adam LeBor, who's book on the subject - The Last Days of Budapest: Spies, Nazis, Rescuers and Resistance, 1940-1945. If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - [email protected] Producer: James Hodgson X: @PodBattleground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With the shock waves of the fall of Bashir al Assad still reverberating Saul and Patrick look at the way this profoundly important event has reshaped the Ukraine conflict and the global order generally. They also look at the battlefield and try to get a feel for how much trouble Ukraine might be in, and investigate the latest twist in relations between Zelensky and Trump. If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - [email protected] Producer: James Hodgson Twitter: @PodBattleground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On December 16, 1944, Hitler launched his 'last gamble' in the snow-covered forests of the Ardennes in Belgium, hoping to smash through the Allied lines in the west and retake the Belgian port of Antwerp on the coast of the English Channel. Joining Saul to discuss the Battle of the Bulge is bestselling historian Sir Antony Beevor, who provides a deeply informative and definitive account of the Battle from his expertise from writing his award winning book - Ardennes 1944: The Battle of The Bulge. If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - [email protected] Producer: James Hodgson Twitter: @PodBattleground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this special bonus episode Saul and Patrick react to the remarkable and astonishingly fast developments over the weekend in Syria, where rebel forces have taken control and long-term dictator Bashar al-Assad has fled to Moscow. If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - [email protected] Producer: James Hodgson Twitter: @PodBattleground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Saul and Patrick reflect on a week of instability across the globe and in particular the news that rebel groups in Syria, have recaptured parts of Aleppo and are threatening the Russian naval base at Tartus in the eastern Mediterranean. With Russia's influence in the region under threat, they ask what this could mean for events in Ukraine and if this additional pressure on Russia could have a significant impact on the war in Ukraine. If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - [email protected] Producer: James Hodgson Twitter: @PodBattleground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Covering a wide range of fascinating topics from the race to Berlin to the liberation of Finnmark in the far north of Scandinavia, Saul and Patrick address some of the multitude of questions which we have received on the topics of our Battleground '44 series in todays episode. If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - [email protected] Producer: James Hodgson Twitter: @PodBattleground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this week's edition of Battleground Ukraine Saul and Patrick discuss the fallout from a series of escalations last week, the US's push for Ukraine to lower its age of conscription in order to combat the its manpower shortage. They also react to the latest significant appointee to the incoming Trump administration and what that could mean for US policy on Ukraine in the new year. If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - [email protected] Producer: James Hodgson Twitter: @PodBattleground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In a powerful interview Patrick speaks to author Julian Evans who has over the past 30 years build his own powerful connection to Ukraine and in particular the city of Odesa. He describes his experiences in witnessing the birth of Ukraine as a nation from the hardships of the 1990s in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union. And shares new fresh insights into the history of Russia’s war against Ukraine and its cultural and emotional impacts, particularly on the Ukrainians themselves. If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - [email protected] Producer: James Hodgson Twitter: @PodBattleground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode Patrick is joined by historian and former British Army Officer Sir Simon Mayall, to discuss the Middle East - both the region's role in the conflict but also the lasting impact that the events of the second world war had on shaping the region afterwards. If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - [email protected] Producer: James Hodgson Twitter: @PodBattleground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In what has been one of the most dramatic, dangerous and consequential stages of the war, Saul and Patrick react to the latest developments of a very dynamic situation which is constantly evolving. With many dangerous thresholds crossed and red lines violated, they look at what this means as reportedly for the first time ever Russia has fired a ICBM at Ukraine. This in retaliation for the first use of a British made Storm Shadow cruise missile against a target inside Russia and the first use of US supplied ATACMs missiles earlier in the week. If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - [email protected] Producer: James Hodgson Twitter: @PodBattleground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Joining Patrick to discuss the remarkable story of one of the most significant female figures of the Second World War - Pamela Churchill Harriman, is Sonia Purnell - Author of the book Kingmaker: Pamela Churchill Harriman's astonishing life of seduction, intrigue and power. Together they discuss the remarkable achievements Pamela managed to achieve at the height of the Second World War, all of which she was able to accomplish in her early twenties. If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - [email protected] Producer: James Hodgson Twitter: @PodBattleground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Joining Patrick and Saul from Kharkiv to discuss the situation in the east of Ukraine is Belgian journalist - Arnaud De Decker, Arnaud has been reporting from Ukraine for over two years and is now based in Kharkiv. He tells us the mood in the east of the country and tells us the situation along the eastern front, including in Pokrovsk where Russian forces are closing in on the city. You can check out his work on his social media accounts: Instagram - arnaud.dedecker Twitter - @arnauddedecker If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - [email protected] Producer: James Hodgson Twitter: @PodBattleground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices