Has the UK learned THE WRONG lessons from Russia-Ukraine war
6/30/202632 min
With Sir Keir Starmer just weeks away from leaving office, his government has finally released its long awaited Defence Investment Plan - but will it be enough to keep the UK safe?
On this episode of The Fourcast Indicators, Matt Frei and Mark Urban are joined by Channel 4's International Editor Lindsey Hilsum.
They discuss how the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East have "completely changed" the nature of warfare, how Britain is betting big on drones - and if Vladimir Putin might be at risk of lose his prized possession: Crimea.
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsMatt Frei· Host0:00
What's happening in Crimea is really interesting, isn't it? Because they are effectively cutting it off. Fuel shortages, fuel rationing.
Mark Urban· Host0:05
The most extraordinary paradox about the Russian war effort is that you've got that sort of awful lumpen, you know, ex-con- Mm ... drunken contract soldier stumbling to a near certain death, and then you do have people in that system, particularly in the offices of the defense industry, who are smart cookies.
Lindsay Hilsum· Guest0:23
What Ukrainians will always tell you is that whenever we do anything, the Russians then catch up. It's cat and mouse.
Matt Frei· Host0:28
Mm. Is it possible that the Ukrainians think they can get Crimea back, and what would that blow mean to Vladimir Putin in Moscow? Hello, and welcome to The Forecast: Indicators. I'm Matt Frei.
Mark Urban· Host0:41
And I'm Mark Urban, and this is the podcast where we look at the signals that analysts watch most closely that suggest significant change is imminent, and separate the signal from the noise and the wheat from the chaff.
Matt Frei· Host0:52
We're returning to the war in Ukraine again today, and we're joined by our colleague, Lindsay Hilsum, to help us do just that. There are several fronts to that war, of course. There's the battlefield itself. The Crimean Peninsula, for instance, has come under such sustained Ukrainian attack that fuel has been severely rationed and the peninsula's in danger of becoming a bit of an island. Then there's the economic front. The prospect of conflict with Russia is used as the reason for beefing up defense spending in Europe, and that, of course, includes right here in the UK.
Mark Urban· Host1:21
And some breaking news on this front as the outgoing Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has unveiled, many months late, the