Ben Hodges - Now is Ukraine's Turn to Strike Back, but When, Where, and How Hard will they Strike?

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GUEST: Lieutenant General (retired) Ben Hodges - retired United States Army officer, policy analyst and expert on NATO, the Transatlantic relationship and international security.
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Through the winter, Ukrainian and Western officials had warned Russia was preparing to launch a new offensive. Apparently, it was “mustering forces beyond the Urals”, according to General Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s army chief. Rumours circulated, that Russian forces, bolstered by Belarussian divisions, could even try to storm Kyiv once more. Russia had gathered half a million fresh mobilised troops and would “make a push” around the anniversary of the war, suggested the defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov. But it seems that Russia’s offensive began weeks ago, around the meat grinder of Bakhmut, and is already running out of steam – a damp squib. Intercepted communications and the ravings of angered mil bloggers suggest Russia is running out of ideas and ammunition. Now it seems is the turn of Ukraine to strike back. But when, where, and how hard will they hit the Russians?
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SPEAKER:
Lieutenant General (Retired) Ben Hodges, the former Commanding General of US Army Europe, is now Senior Advisor to Human Rights First, a non-profit, nonpartisan international human rights organization based in New York, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles. Prior to joining Human Rights First, he held the Pershing Chair in Strategic Studies at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA). General Hodges serves as NATO Senior Mentor for Logistics, he consults for several companies on Europe, NATO, and the European Union, and he is co-author of the book Future War and the Defence of Europe, published by Oxford University Press.

He retired from the U.S. Army in January 2018 and lives today with his wife in Frankfurt, Germany.
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LINKS:
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#benhodges #ukraine #ukrainewar #russia #zelensky #putin #propaganda
#war #disinformation #hybridwarfare #foreignpolicy #communism #sovietunion #postsoviet
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CHAPTERS:
00:21 Could Kyiv be under threat once more from 500k conscripts?
02:30 After 9 months the Russians have made little visible or strategic progress
04:30 Even the propagandists will have trouble spinning this as a victory
09:00 Will Russians stay and fight, or flee Crimea like rats leaving a sinking ship
13:08 Was NATO a threat, especially in the 2000s as is claimed by Russian propagandists?
16:00 War of attrition and the false equivalence of looking at ratios of RU & UA KIAs
20:08 Does West yet have a mindset to support Ukraine for victory, not just survival
24:37 What needs to happen to enable a Ukrainian victory - in terms of equipment
30:14 Ukraine can retake large territory - are they preparing to punch through again?
37:34 Putin is the worst possible Russian leader for Ukraine - noone could be worse
44:18 This struggle is about the information war too - which we're not winning globally
48:09 War crimes accusations need to be extended to all of Putin's entourage
53:16 Are we seeing a 'teaser' of future wars in the Ukrainian army's use of drones
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PLATFORMS:
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[rochesterjohnny]

I know a retired Marine general he thinks very highly of General Hodges as we all do

[blueclover]

Love Ben. Always try to catch his interviews

[keithdunwoody]

My wife's grandfather was literally lost in Stalingrad, his fate unknown. The family is Ukrainian. My mother in law is from Donetsk. They have zero sentimentality towards the USSR and no love for RuZZia.

[Brian-----]

Thank you for your informative, accurate, wise videos.

[ennediend]

MERCI BEN HODGES 👍👍👍
SLAVA UKRAINI🇺🇦✌

[JacobT-]

Hey! Awesome short. Glad to see you upload one. With Ben Hodges no less. Congrats and thank you! Great work as always.

[alexiskiri]

We're gonna hit 'em and we'll hit 'em hard,
We're gonna hit 'em with the fist of God
SLAV UKRAINE
🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦💪💪💪♥️♥️♥️
Victory is ours.

[aurelio-reymilaorcabal]

Id like to see Putin travel to a country not allied with Russia with his ICC enditement.

[Northcountry]

Before reading on, Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦… Given that Attacking is far more costly than Defending in terms of Soldiers and Equipment lost, does an attack at this time become more of a gamble…than say attacking in the Summer ? Or is there less of an advantage then because of Orc reinforcements building up ? … Again Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦🙏🏼

[dfxvoodoocards]

This man said that Ukraine in 2023 will win back Crimea and the eastern regions lost to Russia. Non of that happened.

[adamrounds]

At this point I wish he had ambition to run for president lol

[marcelnowakowski]

This poor, clueless dude is a military equivalent of Joe Biden.

[keithsteele]

The old days are gone Vlad, you can never relive, the past, it's the Russian kids turn now, our time has long gone 😢😢😢😮😮

Ben Hodges:

April 10, 2022: "Ukraine will capture Crimea in 2023."

September 11, 2022: "Ukraine will return to Crimea by summer."

December 22, 2022: "Ukraine will capture Crimea in the summer."

April 18, 2023: "Kiev will capture Crimea by the end of summer."

April 22, 2023: "Ukraine will capture Crimea by the end of the year."

January 16, 2024: "Putin will soon collapse. It's unclear if Russia can continue the war for another 5 years."

[peterkiviat]

Sorry, but I don't think 11 brigades does it. I wish they had another 50.

[andysherris]

While everyone is talking counter offensive and how brilliant the west are at not supplying munitions I will just watch the onslaught day by day. Those 500 kg and 1500 kg glide bombs appear to make an awful mess. I'n wondering why the Ukraine air defence isn't shooting these bombers down? I think they are also looking at also dropping 3000kg and 5000kg bombs. Currently there's 5-7 glide bomb strikes daily. This will be increased by 30-40 strikes per day.

[fzztcwf]

The life experience of Russian people of the last twenty odd years is vastly different to those who were living under the Stalin years. I don't know how much this would make Putin less powerful.

[zirkonzar]

he has no idea of what he’s talking about. Pure propaganda

[davidpartridge]

I'm a fan of this man...future president of THE USA...

[GarrisonFall]

How old is this interview? Russian propaganda is all through their education system.