The On Deadline Podcast

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Would Russia really execute two American POW's captured while fighting with Ukraine; and if they did, would that draw the U.S. into war with Russia? Jun 21, 2022

Show notes

As Russia's war grinds on in Eastern Ukraine, we're learning a bit more about the fates of two Americans who were volunteers fighting for the Ukrainian army when they were captured by Russians.

A Kremlin spokeperson has acknowledged that the two Americans ... both military vets ... were in Russian custody. He called them "soldiers of fortune" and said the Geneva conventions and the wartime protections they provide fighters do not apply in their case, since Russia considers them mercenaries.

The two Americans were fighting with a small group of foreign soldiers and went missing in action when their platoon came under heavy fire in a village near Kharkiv, which is about 25 miles from the Russian border.

On Russian state television there have already been suggestions that the two men should be tried and executed for war crimes.

Can and would the U-S try to help free them?

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Russia & Putin playing the long game in Ukraine: if they can keep the war grinding in the Donbas into the winter, can Putin outlast the Ukrainians, NATO and the West? Jun 20, 2022

Show notes

The Russians hoped to pull off a lightening strike on Kyiv and rule most of Ukraine within weeks, when it launched the invasion of its neighbor back in February.

And in the weeks afterwards when Russian forces were forced to retreat from the capital, Ukrainians hoped they had Russians on the run.

Four months later and the war in Ukraine could last well beyond anyone's expectations. NATO's Secretary General says Russia's war in Ukraine could go on for years and the effort requires sustained Western support during that time.

This comes as Ukraine's deputy defense minister says Russia has ordered its military to overrun the entire eastern Donbas region by next Sunday. That territory could prove difficult for Ukraine to win back once the Russians have dug in with defenses.

And yet the Ukrainian government and military stands by its goals in this war: win back every square inch of Ukrainian territory taken by Russian, including Crimea.

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First Americans who went to fight for Ukraine captured by the Russians, which adds a complicated new twist to this war: could their fates draw the U.S. deeper into the conflict? Jun 17, 2022

Show notes

Hundreds, and possibly thousands, of foreign fighters flocked to Ukraine in February and March, eager to take up arms to beat back Russia's invasion. Among those fighters were several Americans, most of them with military experience eager to help out the Ukrainian cause ... so the deaths or captures of American fighters there was probably inevitable.

And indeed it has happened, two Americans--both military vets--were captured by Russian forces in Eastern Ukraine ... and already they're being discussed and featured on Russian TV, where presenters are calling for their trials and executions. Would the fates of these two American fights in Ukraine potentially lead to further U.S. involvement in the war?

Meanwhile today in Kyiv, another foreign leader dropped in to visit President Zelensky. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson made his second trip to Ukraine, promising continued support of their war effort.

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Is Russia now winning its war against Ukraine? With the Russian military seizing more of the Donbas and the Ukrainians outmanned and outgunned, will the West keep up support? Jun 16, 2022

Show notes

All of that enthusiasm and optimism from the early days of Russia's war in Ukraine, when Ukrainians were able to beat back the Russian offensive on Kyiv, has turned to pessimism in recent weeks. That's because Russia's brutal, grinding campaign in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine is paying dividends.

Out-gunned and out-manned, the Ukrainian military continues to take horrible losses in the East; and the Russians continue to advance in their land grab.

Russian forces now control most of the Donbas region. And Vladimir Putin now has his land bridge to Russian-occupied Crimea.

Today the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Romania met with Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy today in Kyiv. They're pledging support but there's concern that support could be cracking.

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Four months into Russia's war in Ukraine, are the Western sanctions having any impact ... and are they doing more harm to the U.S. economy than Russia's?! Jun 15, 2022

Show notes

When Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine back in February, the United States and most Western immediately launched what they claimed would be crippling sanctions against Russia and Vladimir Putin. There would be little to no loopholes or exceptions, leaders like President Biden promised, and the sanctions would be unrelenting with the goal of severely degrading Russia's ability to fight in Ukraine.

Fast forward four months later and the jury remains very much out on the impact of those sanctions.

In fact, some members of the Biden administration are now acknowledging that sanctions might have caused just as much harm to the U.S. economy as the Russia's.

Rising energy and food costs in the U.S., which at least in part can be directly tied to sanctions against Russia, have become two of the main drivers of inflation, which hit a 40-year high this month.

Russia's recent oil profits due to rising prices have made up for a loss in exports from the sanctions. And Bloomberg News is reporting that some Biden administration officials also worry that sanctions on Russia aren't stopping the invasion of Ukraine and are instead exacerbating inflation, worsening food insecurity, and punishing ordinary Russians

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Saudi Arabia's role in the global ramifications of Russia's war in Ukraine -- Ukrainians in the south and east are starting to feel desperate & hopeless under unrelenting Russian attacks Jun 14, 2022

Show notes

Saudi Arabia plays no direct role in Russia's war against Ukraine. The Persian Gulf kingdom isn't providing weapons to Ukrainians nor are they siding with the Russians. And yet the oil producing giant is one key factor in energy prices that have shot through the roof since Russian forces first entered Ukraine back in February.

So we're going to take a closer look at record high gas prices forcing President Biden to play nice with Saudi Arabia ... the president has confirmed he'll visit the country next month.

Then we head back to Ukraine where the Russian offensive in the eastern part of the country is grinding on with devastating consequences, both for the local population there and the outgunned Ukrainian army, which has taken a lot of casualties over the last month.

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Russia's slow and steady progress in eastern Ukraine Jun 13, 2022

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Russia's offensive in eastern Ukraine is making slow and steady progress. Russian troops are getting closer to fully taking over a key strategic city that might enable it to completely control the Donbas region which is the industrial heartland of the country. Hope isn't lost for Ukraine but is Russia bolstered by the decreasing focus on Ukraine by the West? Aaron David Miller is a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a CNN Global Affairs Analyst.

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The global ramifications of Putin's war in Ukraine are intensifying, from higher oil/gas/energy prices to food shortages Jun 10, 2022

Show notes

As Russia's war in Ukraine grinds on, the Russian economy faces increasing isolation from months of tough sanctions. Trying to offset the consequences at home, Vladimir Putin is doing his best to cozy up to China ... one of the few remaining countries in the world that is openly friendly toward Russia.

The two countries announced a new bridge of "special symbolic meaning" in hopes of boosting trade. This comes as the World Trade Organization is warning that the war could lead to a global food crisis that could last for years.

There has been some speculation that Putin is focused on disrupting Ukraine's grain and wheat production and exports for the precise purpose of causing food shortages ... in the hopes that will lead to the international community pressuring the Ukrainians to sue for peace.

No matter the motivation, Russia's war is causing reverberations far beyond the borders of Ukraine.

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As the US & UK send Ukraine heavier, longer range weapons, Putin threatens to step up attacks in retaliation -- but will Putin bluster deter more support for Ukraine? Jun 06, 2022

Show notes

As Russia's campaign in Eastern Ukraine grinds on, the United Kingdom is the latest country to commit to sending heavier weapons to the Ukrainian side. After the Biden administration announced it's sending multiple launch rocket systems, the UK said it's sending similar missile launches capable of matching the Russian artillery barrages that now rain down on Ukraine cities in the Donbas on an hourly basis.

This has clearly caught the attention of Vladimir Putin. The Russian warned the U-S and Britain not to send longer-range rockets to Ukraine. Putin says that'll lead Russia to launch more bombing attacks.

Of course all of Ukraine is already living under the threat of Russian attacks. Just this weekend several cruise missiles slammed into targets in Kyiv, the first time the capital city has been bombed in at least a month.

Will western countries be intimidated by Putin's posturing ... or at this point in a war that's dragged on for nearly four months, is there not much fear of Russian retaliation?

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As Russia's war against Ukraine reaches its 100th day, will Western resolve to support the Ukrainians outlast Vladimir Putin? Jun 03, 2022

Show notes

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has reached it's 100th day, and even after thousands of deaths, billions of dollars worth of destruction and repeated Russian failures to achieve their goals ... the war rages on. With the focus of the fight in Eastern Ukraine, Russia seems to be increasingly confident it can occupy and hold Ukrainian territories for the long term.

And to that point, the Russians have been making progress in capturing some key towns in Ukraine's Donbas region.

Ukraine's president Zelensky now says Russia controls about a fifth of the country's territory.

Meanwhile Vladimir Putin seems to be digging in for a war of attrition, hoping to outlast both Ukraine's military and the resolve of Western countries and NATO. Putin is calculating that the financial and military support from the West will soon start to level off ... and even decline.

What might happen in the next 100 days?

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