00:00Obviously, not easy times for Ukraine, no sense in hiding this, as you just pointed
00:05out in your introduction, the Russians are advancing, not spectacularly, 100 metres,
00:11200 metres a day, and a great cost to them in terms of loss of life and material, but
00:17they show no signs of being ready to give up, and of course those 100, 200 metres a
00:22day eventually turn into kilometres and tens of kilometres and significant advances.
00:27The other worry I think for Ukraine is that the Russians are now on the threshold of capturing
00:32some significant towns, coal mining, minerals, coal and steel, transport hubs, significant
00:40towns in the Donbass area, and that also would open up the possibility of pushing their advance
00:48further.
00:49European foreign ministers hold talks next week, what might we expect to come out of
00:55that?
00:57Well, if you're looking for an optimal scenario, Jamie, from a Ukrainian perspective, you're
01:02clearly hoping that they will show resolve.
01:05I mean, we've seen in the last week Putin going into a propaganda overdrive in an attempt
01:12to really intimidate the West to stop supporting Ukraine, but against this background, yes,
01:19I think for the meeting of the European foreign ministers what Ukraine would want to see is
01:22number one, resolve.
01:24We're not being intimidated, we're not going to be browbeaten, we've heard these threats
01:30before, it's not going to stop us helping Ukraine.
01:33I think that first and foremost will be crystal clear.
01:38Number two, that it's obvious that we have to do more in Europe to help Ukraine with
01:42its air defences to try to intercept and shoot down these ballistic missiles.
01:47It can be done, and even in the past Russian hypersonic missiles have been shot down by
01:53Patriot and other Western air defence systems, despite what Putin says about their invincibility.
01:58I think obviously how we can get Ukraine through a difficult winter in terms of energy, for
02:04instance, and emergency civilian aid.
02:07Can we tighten the screws on Russia further?
02:10Lots of sanctions already, but the fact that, Jamie, the US have put sanctions on the Russian
02:16Gazprom bank last week, even two and a half years into the war, shows that there's still
02:21quite a few areas, particularly when it comes to LNG gas, for example, gold, nuclear materials,
02:27where those screws can be tightened.
02:30But I think above all, with the Trump administration soon to come into office in Washington, one
02:34of the key debating points is how far are we Europeans willing and able to keep supplying
02:41Ukraine and help Ukraine to defend itself, even if the American assistance, which has
02:46been so vital up to now, suddenly comes to an end.
Comments