Name: Can Ukraine still win the war against Russia? | BBC News
Uploaded: 2025-05-03T00:10:59.000Z
Duration: 5 min 25 s
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Adverbs of manner

All of this conversation is basically on the premise that the Ukrainians can't win.

Modal verbs - B1

Last Friday, I thought I detected signs that Volodymyr Zelensky is edging towards a recognition that he might have to sit down and talk about territorial concessions.

He was visiting the site of the Russian missile strike in Kyiv, and he said, OK, full unconditional ceasefire first, and then we can talk about everything.

He said everything, such as territorial issues.

Of course, accepting concessions or agreeing to concessions is one thing.

But you put your finger on exactly the issue here, which is cart and horse.

The Russians and the Russian-American position is, here are the terms upon which you will agree a ceasefire.

And the whole purpose of a ceasefire is to agree the terms of that ceasefire.

So it's literally, they've been looking through it through the wrong end of the telescope.

And I mean, it's interesting that you kind of detected a kind of drift towards a potential concession.

I saw it much more in the context of Zelensky continuing to play the Americans, drag this out to the point at which the Europeans and others can fill the gap, the military and intelligence gap and financial gaps that they're facing in Ukraine, so that they can fight on.

I mean, what I find really interesting about this, and I'd love to hear your view, is that all of this conversation is basically on the premise that the Ukrainians can't win.

And I've spent a lot of time on the front line in Ukraine.

Trump, in an interview published today, he said, I'm saving that nation, and I think that nation will be crushed very shortly.

Yeah, well, I mean, we know that, don't we?

I mean, the crushing blow that the Russians tried to deal in the beginning of the war in 2022 was turned around.

Young men, middle-aged men leapt into pickup trucks and took on these Russian convoys and turned them round.

And that was with both hands tied behind their backs in terms of military supplies.

And we've seen recently the efficacy of the F-16s with the French missiles that have been very effective in hitting command and control structures of the Russians.

If they continue to do that, they can break the back of the Russian army.

Yeah, I think it's extraordinary how, and it happens in the media, doesn't it?

We start to, we're all prattling on about a ceasefire.

When the terms of the ceasefire are preposterous, there's absolutely no chance of a ceasefire.

But Putin's ceasefire proposal for May the 8th is absolute hogwash, and yet we're preoccupied by it.

No, no, no, I mean, Trump has thrown, he hasn't thrown his toys out the car.

And in order to continue the play act, that there's any kind of difference between their positions, Putin has responded to the kind of meaningless, limp-wristed threats from the White House.

Oh, we might increase some sanctions, or we might be slightly meaner to you.

Trump hasn't said we're going to flood the place with long-range missiles.

And we're going to help the Ukrainians smash you up, if you don't come to the ceasefire.

He's completely bogus threats, and a bogus response from Putin.

It can also be argued that it has Donald Trump in mind, where he says, look, we are a peaceful nation.

No, I think it's a play-acting piece of dialogue.

Donald Trump says, oh, you've been naughty.

And Putin says, oh, I feel a little naughty.

I'll spend a little bit of time on the naughty step.

I don't think that there's any difference in their position whatsoever.

I don't think Donald Trump wants any particular concessions out of Putin.

And I don't think Putin's going to give them.

In terms of President Trump's intentions, though, Sam, people who are close to him all say he genuinely wants to stop the killing.

I think he is sort of offended in his weird way by death and horridness.

And there might well be a kind of motive there ticking away that he'd make it want to go away.

But I think more broadly, he is acting in lockstep with the Kremlin, perhaps because he wants to see a world kind of divided up into spheres of influence.

Or maybe he's just mesmerised by Vladimir Putin.

He's had a long relationship with Russia, after all.