If you would like to watch this podcast you can watch it on Spotify or you can find it on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/@BattlegroundUkraine

We return to the historic port city of Odesa to witness the stark contrast between a city trying to maintain a sense of normalcy and the high-tech, high-stakes reality of the front lines.

In this episode, we explore the brittle state of Ukraine's energy grid, the mood of the locals to help us understand the complex, sometimes ambivalent, moods of a population weary of conflict.

And, we go inside a civilian drone school to meet the soldiers of the 39th Marine Brigade. They share insights on:

The Drone Revolution: Why FPV (First Person View) drones are the "cooking pot" of modern military innovation and why they are now essential for successful assault operations.

A New Military Culture: The rise of "patronage services" providing mental and physical rehabilitation for wounded soldiers and their families.The

Recruitment Crisis: An honest look at why it is difficult to find motivated recruits and how the army is evolving to prioritise specialised skills over "Soviet-style" tactics.

Julius Strauss writes the blog Back from the Front and also owns and runs Wild Bear Lodge, a bear-viewing lodge, in Canada. Here are the hyperlinks:

Substack: https://backfromthefront.substack.com/

Wild Bear Lodge: https://wildbearlodge.ca/

Join the Conversation: If you have a question about the war in Ukraine or any of the conflicts we cover, email us at podbattleground@gmail.com

X - @PodBattleground

Instagram - podbattleground

Producer: James Hodgson

A Goalhanger Podcast

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392. Lessons for the West: The Most Experienced Army in Europe