In this episode, we arrive in Kharkiv following an overnight train from Odesa to find a city of stark contrasts. While residents carry flowers for International Women’s Day in the beautiful spring sunshine, the scars of war are everywhere, from bombed-out buildings to the distant sound of explosions.

We sit down with Public Affairs Officer at the Khartiia Corps of the National Guard of Ukraine, Volodymyr Dehtyarov discuss the evolving tactical landscape of the conflict. He details how Ukraine is adapting with a new, meticulous approach to urban operations that prioritises minimising casualties.

Key topics include:

The New Minister of Defence: Why the appointment of a young, tech-savvy leader is seen as a pivotal move for the Ukrainian military.

A New Way of Fighting: A deep dive into the recent operation in Kupiansk, where meticulous planning and drone-heavy tactics achieved a staggering 20-to-1 casualty ratio.

The Drone Revolution: How the battlefield has become "transparent and lethal," leading to the replacement of traditional armoured vehicles with fibre-optic aerial drones and unmanned ground vehicles for logistics and strikes.

Cognitive Warfare: The ongoing battle against Russian bot networks and the role of artificial intelligence in shaping public narrative and social division.

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

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Producer: James Hodgson

A Goalhanger Podcast

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394. Kharkiv: Flowers, Sunshine, and the Shadow of War