Ukraine Military History

Samuel Cook, Rob Lee
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Ukraine Military History is a podcast about how wars are actually fought, and won. Co-hosts Rob Lee and Dmytro Putiata — both Marines and respected military analysts — break down the war in Ukraine in the operational detail headlines miss: drone warfare, force structure, and what's really happening along the front. Host Samuel Cook, who taught Russian military history at West Point, widens the lens to the campaigns and doctrines that shaped modern war and still echo on today's battlefield. Produced by the Borderlands Foundation, the show preserves and teaches the hard-won lessons of Ukraine's

  1. 2d ago

    Ep 17 – "The Next Month Decides the Winter": Rob Lee & Francis Farrell Back From the Front

    Built & Promoted with https://storyfunnels.ai 🎓 Why War Matters — Sam's San Francisco talk for Defence Tech Founders https://ukraineforfounders.com/talk/ Rob Lee and Francis Farrell have just come back from a week on the front line — Zaporizhzhia, the Donbas, Izium and Kharkiv on the way home. This is the debrief. They arrive with an argument that has a deadline in it. The first half of 2026 went better for Ukraine than expected; the second half is turning. Russia's advances are slower than last year, but they are landing in the worst possible places — the approaches to Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, the last great cities of Donetsk Oblast. Sloviansk is where this war started in April 2014, and some of the brigade commanders defending it today fought there then. The thing that worries both of them most is not a weapon. It is the weather. Last October, four days of heavy fog blinded the drones over Pokrovsk and let two companies of Russian infantry into the city, and they could not be cleared out. October is coming again, and Russian forces are closer to Kramatorsk and Sloviansk than they were. The next month decides whether there is a window. Along the way: what the kill zone actually measures — not FPV range, but how far an infantryman walks to his position, which around Kostiantynivka is fifteen to twenty kilometres on foot. Why Mavics pushed back from the line mean you need more crews to keep the same eyes in the sky, so every technological problem turns back into a manpower problem. And what a contested city really looks like now, with Russian and Ukrainian infantry in the same building using different entrances, both under orders not to engage, because both sides want the drones to do the killing. CHAPTERS 00:00 A week on the front — where the war actually stands 09:54 The narrative roller coaster, and why it misleads 13:00 Drapatyi's principles — can the brigades feel it? 17:18 Inspections stopped, the counterattack order delegated 22:36 The kill zone, measured in how far a man walks 25:44 Underground, logistics, and the confused city fight 28:24 Infiltration is not a new problem for these units 30:30 What a unit can solve with welders and engineers 33:35 Kostiantynivka: why infantry still decide urban fights 36:00 Artillery now deters more than it destroys 38:13 Glide bombs and Western aviation: still no answer 42:10 The sledgehammer, and where Ukraine has the edge 46:30 Middle strike: what it achieved, how Russia adapted 48:37 Autonomous drones — no radio link, no human in the loop 51:20 Jet-powered Gerans, and the intercept problem 55:00 Starlink jammers, and Russia's Rassvet constellation 59:00 What changes if Ukraine can strike into Russia 62:18 October, fog, and the month that decides the winter 66:00 Dobropillia: a five-to-one drone disadvantage 68:10 Russia's hybrid war reaches Germany 73:00 Would Europe actually come? Narva and the Baltics 75:00 Only Ukraine and Russia know how to fight this war 78:10 The defence of Ukraine as the defence of your own security 80:08 Russia only respects strength 83:20 Escalation, Ratcliffe, and talking to Moscow 87:28 The men who were in Sloviansk in 2014 Support the Borderlands Foundation: https://theborderlandsfoundation.org 🎧 Listen & subscribe: All episodes: https://ukrainemilitaryhistory.org/ https://www.youtube.com/@UkraineMilitaryHistory Guests: Rob Lee: https://x.com/RALee85 Francis Farrell: https://x.com/francisjfarrell

    Ep 17 – "The Next Month Decides the Winter": Rob Lee & Francis Farrell Back From the Front

  2. 6d ago

    Ep 16 – "If You're Not in Ukraine, You're Not in Defense": Brave1 CEO Andrii Hrytseniuk

    Ukraine's answer to the question every war asks — not who invents a weapon, but who fields it fast enough to win — has a name, and a CEO. Andrii Hrytseniuk runs Brave1, the platform the Ukrainian government built in 2023 to connect industry, combat units, ministries and universities into a single innovation engine. He is not a career soldier. He was a chief information officer at Ukraine's largest banks, and that is precisely the point: when the full-scale invasion came, scientists, teachers and IT project managers turned civilian skills into weapons development. Short of tanks, they fielded heavy-lift bombers and FPV drones. With no navy, they invented naval drones. That improvisation became an institution. Sam Cook and Rob Lee sit down with him in Kyiv for 40 minutes on how the machine actually works: problem statements instead of requirement documents, agile iterations instead of ten-year programmes of record, and six laws plus nearly fifty Cabinet decrees rewritten so a civilian company can go from an idea to a codified weapon in weeks. Produced by the Borderlands Foundation. Support our work: https://theborderlandsfoundation.org 🎓 Why War Matters — Sam's San Francisco talk. Part I is free: https://ukraineforfounders.com/talk/ 🎧 Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@UkraineMilitaryHistory Guests: Andrii Hrytseniuk / Brave1: https://brave1.gov.ua Rob Lee: https://x.com/RALee85 Built & Promoted with https://storyfunnels.ai 0:00 - Who fields technology, not who invents it 4:46 - Welcome: the engine of Ukrainian innovation 5:10 - What Brave1 is, and the Army of Drones project it grew out of 7:40 - Out-innovating an enemy with more of everything 9:15 - The banker, the scientists and the teachers who built weapons 10:38 - What other militaries should learn from civilian thinking 11:02 - ePoints: a banker's bonus scheme, applied to the army 11:46 - Design thinking and agile instead of technical requirements 12:55 - Why US requirement documents produce unchangeable technology 13:24 - Breaking open a closed defense market: six laws, fifty decrees 14:11 - Building the new process in parallel rather than fixing the old one 15:08 - How a frontline need becomes a product 16:14 - The feedback loop Brave1 sits in the middle of 17:13 - Early funding, like an angel investor 18:51 - 600 products tested and codified to NATO standards 19:54 - 400 venture funds asking which companies to back 20:13 - Reviewing the categories every nine months 21:43 - Foreign companies: Test in Ukraine 22:46 - Brave International, and Brave NATO, Germany, Norway, France 23:27 - Brave Prime, and why the global primes came 24:07 - "If you're not in Ukraine, you're not in defense" 25:19 - Why 95% Ukrainian-made drones is a problem, not a win 26:00 - Priorities: domain by domain 26:47 - Deep and middle strike: the gray zone from 10km to 70km 27:54 - Counter-UAS, and interceptors cheaper than a Shahed 28:51 - Data links, mesh networks, and the range problem 29:21 - AI: drone versus drone 29:52 - From manually operated, to human-in-the-loop, to human-on-the-loop 30:55 - "Next year the majority of hits will be fully automatic" 31:59 - Russia's autonomous strikes 33:30 - Countermeasures, and working with allies on autonomy 34:08 - Turrets 35:42 - UGVs: kamikaze, logistics, evacuation, hybrid buggies 36:59 - 50,000 ground robots contracted this year 38:02 - 100,000 UGV missions in seven months 39:14 - Four lessons for Western militaries 40:00 - One: assume you are not defended enough 40:47 - Two: the economics of war, and cheap weapons at scale 41:31 - Three: speed of innovation, and the three-to-six-month window 41:57 - Four: flexibility, scalability and supply-chain dependencies 42:38 - A culture of readiness for threats you cannot predict 43:16 - "Real strength, or the illusion of defense?"

    Ep 16 – "If You're Not in Ukraine, You're Not in Defense": Brave1 CEO Andrii Hrytseniuk

  3. Aug 19

    Ep 15 – What Happens If Russia Mobilizes: Rob Lee & Francis Farrell on the Upcoming Winter

    Built & Promoted with https://storyfunnels.ai Francis Farrell is one of the very few English-language journalists who still goes right up to the front line in Ukraine. He is Australian, he arrived a week before the full-scale invasion, and he has spent four years reporting the war from the places most outlets can no longer insure their people to enter.Sam Cook and Rob Lee sit down with him in Kyiv on 14 August 2026 — as the Russian advance closes on the Donbas fortress belt of Kramatorsk, Sloviansk and Druzhkivka.Francis describes Dobropillia as the most destroyed city he has seen: twelve glide bombs in three hours, not one civilian on the street, and a basement he slept in that was gone a week later. Rob maps the front around it — why the maps lag reality, and why October and November worry him most.Then the harder question. Russia's assault philosophy runs on a constant supply of expendable infantry. If Putin mobilizes again, what changes — and what does Ukraine do about the manpower asymmetry no drone fleet has solved?Francis closes on something he has been circling for years: there are two Ukrainian militaries now — the elite drone units fighting the war of the future, and the worn-down legacy brigades filled with unmotivated mobilized men. Understanding the gap between them, he argues, is the only honest way to read this war.Timestamps0:00 - Francis Farrell8:50 - The journalist who still goes to the front12:06 - Researching Russia is now nearly impossible14:29 - Kremlinology15:52 - Rosgvardia on the Belarus border17:41 - The Kyiv Independent19:42 - The counteroffensive that made his career21:03 - What the Kyiv Independent is actually for22:07 - The dearth of frontline reporting in English23:31 - The communication gap that keeps widening25:00 - Dobropillia: the most destroyed city he has seen26:09 - Twelve glide bombs in three hours27:20 - The basement that was gone a week later27:45 - Sloviansk and Kramatorsk29:46 - Why the last month has been faster31:18 - Dobropillia and the FPVs that emptied it33:21 - A logistical nightmare: roads, rails, nowhere to sleep35:21 - When it stops making sense to go39:21 - Putin's minimum, and how long it takes to take a city41:28 - Sloviansk 2014, Girkin, and what these cities mean42:52 - Why cities matter militarily — basements and antennas44:13 - The pincer, and the 22 July assault in the Azov Corps sector46:25 - A year ago: the Dobropillia infiltration, and who holds the flanks now48:49 - Kostiantynivka: how a fortress city gets overrun50:35 - Logistics by moped, UGV and trolley52:19 - Can UGVs replace infantry?54:15 - Keeping human beings underground56:54 - The 45-day UGV position that was really drones58:28 - Manpower, being chased by an FPV, and why a breached city is a liability1:02:23 - Five kilometres underground1:05:02 - Weather, Pokrovsk, and the October-November danger window1:08:46 - Back to the strategic picture1:13:45 - Russia's war economy and the recruitment quota1:14:53 - Mobilization: the X factor1:16:29 - North Koreans, and what 10,000 more would mean1:19:54 - Crossing the Rubicon1:21:53 - Sustainability as strategy1:24:03 - Syrskyi, Drapatyi, and valuing manpower1:26:52 - How the US and Europe have actually responded1:28:35 - The commander who told Putin he had taken Kupiansk1:29:55 - Lucky that Russia's system is still broken1:33:23 - Watching the Oval Office meeting from the front1:35:14 - Social media war vs the real war1:37:47 - The human factor that gets lost1:39:35 - Why frontline soldiers sound more pessimistic1:42:41 - Two Ukrainian militaries Produced by the Borderlands Foundation.Support our work: https://theborderlandsfoundation.orgSubscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@UkraineMilitaryHistoryGuests:Francis Farrell: https://x.com/francisjfarrellRob Lee: https://x.com/RALee85

    Ep 15 – What Happens If Russia Mobilizes: Rob Lee & Francis Farrell on the Upcoming Winter

  4. Aug 12

    Ep 14 – Russia Is Learning Faster Than You Think: The Most Sophisticated Assault of the War

    Build & Promoted using StoryFunnels In early August 2026, Ukraine got a new commander-in-chief. General Oleksandr Syrskyi was relieved, and Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi — forty-three years old — took over an army in the fifth year of a full-scale war. It followed the public fight over the firing of Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov that we covered in episodes 10 and 11. Sam Cook sits down in Kyiv with Rob Lee, one of the most widely read analysts of this war, and Dima Putiata, who served four years in the Ukrainian Armed Forces and left as a sergeant in the Unmanned Systems Forces. The question: have we reached a turning point? The answer is more careful than the headlines. Russia is advancing slower than a year ago — but it still holds the initiative. Timestamps 0:00 - What this episode is and why it matters 7:18 - Have we reached a turning point? Why Russia is advancing slower 10:19 - Kramatorsk and Sloviansk: the hardest direction 12:51 - Why both sides fight so hard for the Donetsk cities 14:21 - What people get wrong about "turning point" 16:01 - Shahed-4, Shahed-5, the pulse-jet engine, and Banderol 19:39 - Ukraine's gap in pulse-jet deep-strike drones 20:39 - The counteroffensive that never came, and the airborne counterattacks nobody reported 22:53 - "Tanks are not dead" - combined arms maneuver 24:18 - What you never see on Twitter or Telegram, and why the best units stay quiet 27:00 - The biggest lie starts at division level, and Russia's 300 vehicles 29:04 - Artillery is not dead either: weather, counter-battery radar, acoustic sensors 33:29 - Preparing the battlefield for armor 35:01 - The casualty debate: drones vs artillery 37:32 - Ukrainian artillery brigades that fly their own drones 40:16 - North Koreans in Kursk: from company assaults to squads 42:13 - Reestablishing maneuver: the First World War parallel and the Azov Corps assault 44:01 - Lancet, Zala, Orion, and Russia's mesh network 48:42 - Arena-M: twenty FPVs to stop one tank, mine rollers and sixteen mines 51:49 - Rubicon's 150-page doctrine - and Ukraine's silence 53:12 - Eighty percent of armor losses come from UAVs 54:26 - The most sophisticated Russian assault of the war 56:39 - Political demands, the lying problem, and the post-war Russian military 1:00:02 - Russia's daily target list, and why their micro-tactical execution still fails 1:04:44 - Starlink: the game changer of this war 1:06:22 - Middle strike: heavy and light 1:08:39 - Lancet-Zala, interceptors, and Ukraine's middle strike campaign today 1:12:34 - RuzSat: Russia builds its own Starlink, and echelons of electronic warfare 1:18:07 - "Starlink is a bit of a crutch", and Kursk: crossing the border and losing it 1:21:15 - Crimea, Operation Spiderweb, and what adversaries learn 1:25:24 - Ground-launched ballistic missiles, KN-23 and KN-24 1:27:50 - Zelenskyy's ask to Trump and Musk 1:29:50 - The PAC-3 shortage, and why missile defense stays hard 1:33:03 - Deep strike: refineries, Wildberries, Flamingo - and is it working? 1:37:08 - The economic war: the Black Sea, the port of Odesa, and attrition 1:40:54 - The firing of Fedorov, a new commander-in-chief, and Bilecki's three reasons 1:44:05 - Syrskyi built a system that worked for him 1:46:32 - Unity of command and the Unmanned Systems Forces 1:49:11 - What is Ukraine's actual strategy, and the manpower problem 1:53:04 - What Drapatyi will change first 1:57:29 - Why mobilization got harder: Bakhmut, and orders with no purpose 2:00:45 - AWOL, desertion, and criminal liability for withdrawing 2:05:38 - How AWOL should actually be punished 2:07:17 - France 1940: leadership, training, then technology 2:10:50 - Better than a year ago, but not a turning point yet Produced by the Borderlands Foundation.Support our work: https://theborderlandsfoundation.org All episodes: https://ukrainemilitaryhistory.org/ Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@UkraineMilitaryHistory Guests:Rob Lee: https://x.com/RALee85Dima Putiata: https://x.com/kriegsforscherD

  5. Aug 4

    Ep13 – Inside GUR's International Legion: An Elite Commander on Rat Tactics, the 80% Drone War, and the Future of Special Operations

    His face is blurred and his voice is altered — because he is still fighting. In this episode, Rob Lee sits down with the commander of a separate special forces company in the International Legion of GUR (Ukraine's Defense Intelligence Directorate): a veteran of the SBU's elite Alpha unit who fought through the Battle of Kyiv, the Kherson counteroffensive, and Bakhmut before taking command in the Legion. From the Zaporizhzhia front, he describes a war transformed. Russian "rat tactics" — two- and three-man teams infiltrating between positions with no evacuation and one order: advance or die. A kill zone where at least 80% of all casualties, on both sides, come from drones. Up to 12 FPVs expended on a single soldier. Urban fights where your unit holds one house and the enemy holds the next one for days. And a new pattern of FPV terror attacks on civilian cars and buses in Zaporizhzhia. He also explains what the drone war has retired — snipers down to 10% effectiveness, mortars now "like snipers," an FPV team worth more than an anti-tank system — and what NATO special operations forces must learn from it: units that are at most 25–30% infantry, built around technology, adaptability, and commanders who put their soldiers' lives first. Built & Promoted using ⁠StoryFunnels 🎧 Listen, subscribe & support ▶ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@UkraineMilitaryHistory 0:00 - From SBU Alpha to GUR's International Legion 6:25 - The Unit's Drone Arsenal: FPVs, Mavics, Vampires, Ground Drones 8:26 - The Zaporizhzhia Front and "Rat Tactics": Do or Die, No Evacuation 10:37 - FPV Terror Against Civilians — Up to 12 FPVs Per Soldier 12:56 - Russian Spetsnaz and 2–3-Man Infiltration Instead of Assaults 15:17 - 80% of All Casualties Are From Drones; Glide Bombs as Terror 17:06 - Urban Combat: The Enemy in the Next House 19:08 - Walking 10–30 km to the Zero Line; Anti-Thermal Suits 21:33 - Who Joins the Legion (Norway to Nigeria): "You Must Become Better" 25:04 - The Alpha Years: Combat Medic in Donbas 28:16 - The Battle of Kyiv: Hunting Russian Agents Building to Building 30:16 - The Kherson Offensive: Village by Village 33:26 - Bakhmut: Mortars, Mavics, and a First Wound 35:24 - Weapons the Kill Zone Retired — and the Future: Max 30% Infantry 37:45 - How to Join or Support the Legion

    Ep13 – Inside GUR's International Legion: An Elite Commander on Rat Tactics, the 80% Drone War, and the Future of Special Operations

  6. Jul 31

    Ep #12 – Two Marines. One War. Both Captured. Shaun Pinner about Mariupol & Captivity

    In this special episode, Ievgen Malik sits down with Shaun Pinner — British soldier, Ukrainian Marine, Mariupol defender, and fellow survivor of Russian captivity. The two served in the same battalion of the 36th Marines but in different units, fought through the siege of Mariupol from February to April 2022, and both ended up in Russian captivity — where they got to know each other. This is not a standard interview. It's two veterans who shared the worst experience of their lives sitting together for the first time since their release, comparing stories, filling in blanks, and discovering what the other went through. Shaun talks about leaving a successful business in London at 45 to join the Ukrainian military, falling in love with Mariupol, training Ukrainian soldiers to move away from Soviet doctrine, and watching the full-scale invasion destroy the city he called home. Ievgen tells his side — the fog that could have been their escape, the breakout that went wrong, and why the second year of captivity was worse than Mariupol itself. Together, they describe the Russian way of war from the receiving end: Grad rockets fired at two soldiers, tanks shooting on the hour like a clock, 80 rockets for a two-man position. They talk about what captivity was really like — the electric shocks, the stabbings, the guards who called themselves Spetsnaz but couldn't name their own weapons, and the forced propaganda videos where the torturer stood behind the camera. And they explain why Shaun now considers it his mission to warn Europe about what's coming. Built & launched with StoryFunnels Produced by the Borderlands Foundation. Subscribe here Listen other episodes & support: ⁠https://ukrainemilitaryhistory.org/⁠ Timestampts: 0:00 - Ievgen and Shaun's Story — Mariupol and Captivity 4:57 - A True Ally of Ukraine 6:48 - Why Shaun Came to Ukraine: Unhappy in Business, Happiest in the Military 9:40 - Shaun Joins Azov as Sniper Instructor, Then Transfers to Marines 12:14 - Ievgen's First Memory of the English Guys at the Battalion Gate 14:25 - Parachute Training at 45: "You Couldn't Stop Me" 17:00 - Nine Jumps, One Night Jump — the Only British Foreigner to Complete It 19:13 - "I'm Not a Foreign Fighter — I'm a Ukrainian Marine" 21:30 - The Transition from Soviet Doctrine to Decentralized Command 24:03 - By 2022: Sergeants Making Decisions 26:27 - "We Were Now Ukrainian": British Borscht and the Platoon Family 28:00 - War Has Changed: Drones Are the Sniper, the Mortars, the Artillery 30:01 - The Drone Story: Two Marines, One Drone, 80 Grad Rockets 32:46 - "The First Time in My Military Career, I'm Now the Taliban" 35:01 - Mariupol: "Very Emotional, Very Dangerous — We Lost So Many People" 37:56 - "In War Films, a Tank Is the Worst. For Us, a Tank Was the Minimum" 40:01 - The Encirclement: 200 Kilometers Deep, No Way Out 41:58 - Preparing for Escape: Snapping Credit Cards, Clearing Intelligence 44:14 - Shaun's Capture: Planned to Surrender to a Russian Officer — Got DPR Instead 47:00 - Ievgen's Negotiated Surrender 48:44 - Beatings Begin: Bag Over Head, Stabbed in the Leg 51:05 - Electric Shocks and Psychological Torture: "They're So Good at It" 53:23 - "You're James Bond, You're SAS" — "No, I'm Senior Sailor" 56:08 - The Last Question: What Would Happen If Russia Invaded Britain? 59:34 - "It's My Job to Tell People What Actually Happened in Mariupol" 1:01:32 - "This War Needs to Be Finished Here — It's Imperialism"

    Ep #12 – Two Marines. One War. Both Captured. Shaun Pinner about Mariupol & Captivity

  7. Jul 21

    Ep 11 – E-Points, Busification, and the Generals Nobody Can Fire: Inside the Army's Systemic Crisis

    In Episode 10 the panel unpacked the politics of Mykhailo Fedorov's dismissal as Ukraine's defence minister — the protests, the strategy clash with Syrskyi, and why soldiers took it personally. In Episode 11, they go deeper: Fedorov's explosive farewell press conference, where he published an 11-point list of systemic problems inside Ukraine's armed forces — and invited the country to judge.Rob Lee takes the panel through the list point by point. Ryan O'Leary — American volunteer, still serving — and Dima Putiata — Ukrainian veteran sergeant — push back, agree, and add stories from their own service that the official accounts never tell. The result is the most granular public discussion of what is actually broken inside the Ukrainian military in the fourth year of war: the E-points system that rewards killing infantry over destroying logistics, the half-built corps reform, brigades that cannot count their own battalions, a mobilization apparatus that has lost public trust, the foreigners' revolving door, and a constitutional structure that means the minister of defence cannot fire a single general.They close with their verdicts — and a shared warning: the window for a Ukrainian offensive operation is open now, but it may close by early 2027.Built with Storyfunnels.aiTimestamps:0:00 - Fedorov's Problem List1:57 - Fedorov's 11 Points from His Farewell Speech2:35 - Problem #1: The Army Fights at the Tactical Level4:06 - The SSO Told Me to File Reports in PDF6:45 - Battalion Targeted Drone Operators — and Got Punished7:32 - The E-Points System9:00 - Brave One Marketplace11:23 - Destroyed Over 100 Starlinks13:03 - Fedorov's Lack of Military Background14:37 - Middle-Strike Coordination20:20 - Problem #2: The Corps System Is Not Yet Fully Formed25:00 - Third Corps Under Biletsky27:50 - Problem #3: Brigades and Corps Have Been Fragmented — Piecemeal Deployments33:58 - Problem #4: No One Is Held Accountable for Anything34:13 - No Ownership & The US Military Model36:24 - 30 Cadets Die in Training37:23 - Mobilization & Busification39:22 - Ukraine's Biggest Mistake42:42 - Civilians Don't Feel Safe49:39 - Foreigners Are the Only Ones Still Dumb Enough54:33 - The Bureaucratic Nightmare 56:35 - Dedicated Foreign Service Branch59:00 - 6-Month Contract Costs Ukraine More Than It Gets Back1:01:10 - Manpower Is the Biggest Issue1:02:01 - Fedorov Identified 200,000 AWOL1:03:59 - The MOD Cannot Fire Generals1:06:00 - Fedorov Was Blamed for Things Not in His Remit1:07:43 - Swap Out the Commander-in-Chief1:09:04 - Post-War1:10:17 - Unfortunate Fedorov Is Replaced1:13:00 - Fedorov Was the Best Minister of Defence1:15:54 - The Golden Opportunity1:20:02 - How Long Can Each Side Sustain This?1:25:38 - We've Got the Russians by the Balls1:27:53 - Sign My Damn Citizenship, ZelenskyProduced by the Borderlands Foundation.🎧 **Listen & subscribe:**All episodes: https://ukrainemilitaryhistory.org/Apple: https://ukrainemilitaryhistory.s.gy/d6Vm9DSpotify: https://ukrainemilitaryhistory.s.gy/bEE3Y9Amazon: https://ukrainemilitaryhistory.s.gy/hun4CH▶ Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@UkraineMilitaryHistory

  8. Jul 20

    Ep 10 – Zelensky Fires His Defense Minister: Soldiers Speak Out — Rob Lee, Ryan O'Leary & Dima Putiata on the Week That Shook Kyiv (Part 1)

    On July 15, 2026, President Zelensky dismissed his entire cabinet — and with it, defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov, six months into the job and, to many soldiers and civilians, the most effective minister Ukraine's military had ever had. Within a day there were protests in Kyiv. Two days later, we turned on the cameras. In this emergency panel — filmed in Kyiv on July 17 — Rob Lee sits down with two men who serve: Dima Putiata, veteran sergeant of Ukraine's unmanned systems forces, and Ryan O'Leary, an American who has fought for Ukraine since 2022 and joins the podcast for the first time — and does not hold back. In Part 1, they unpack the political thinking behind the dismissal: what Fedorov actually changed in six months, why the streets reacted, who the replacement is, and the deeper clash over how this war should be fought — Fedorov's strategy of making the war unsustainable for Russia versus Syrskyi's push to attack while the window is open. Part 2 goes deeper: Fedorov's farewell list of the army's systemic problems — E-points, the half-built corps reform, busification, and the foreigners' revolving door — debated point by point. Subscribe so you don't miss it. Timestamps: 0:00 - Introduction (Sam Cook): The Week That Shook Kyiv 2:11 - The Panel Convene 3:30 - Dima: Why People Defend Fedorov — and Why Wartime Reform Is Brutal 7:29 - How the Replacement Unfolded: Klymenko First, Then the SBU Man 8:22 - Ryan: "Ukraine Shoots Itself in the Foot" 11:58 - Year Four, and Foreigners Still Can't Transfer 12:43 - Why Six-Month Ministers Can't Work — and Why Fedorov Was Different 15:32 - Replacing People Without Giving Them a Chance 18:10 - Where the Frontline Gains Actually Came From 19:38 - What Fedorov Really Changed: He Opened the MOD to the Public 21:47 - Trust in Institutions — "We're Below Zero Now" 23:38 - The Strategy Vacuum Since 2023 25:01 - "I Asked How We Win — and Got Silence" 27:37 - Kursk: A Brilliant Operation in Search of a Strategy 28:52 - Fedorov's Theory of Victory: Make the War Unsustainable for Russia 31:31 - The New Minister: Brilliant Operator, Zero Public Affairs 33:10 - What Background Does a Defense Minister Actually Need? 35:26 - Dima vs the 50,000-a-Month Metric: Kill More, or Lose Fewer? 38:24 - Strike at 100 Kilometers, Not at the Zero Line 40:12 - Attrition or Maneuver: Where Is Russia's Breaking Point? 41:17 - Crimea Isolated: No Fuel, No Power, No Fleet — but Does It End the War? 44:41 - Making Occupation Unlivable: The Governance-Collapse Theory 48:59 - After the Strikes, What? Fedorov vs Syrskyi on Going on the Attack 49:49 - The Kursk Bill: A Thousand Vehicles and Hollowed-Out Brigades 51:21 - Two Theories of Victory: Raise the Costs, or Break the Line 52:12 - The Counterattack Reflex — and the Lying It Created 53:20 - The Assault Regiments: The Skala Controversy 55:38 - Code 9.2 and the Kupiansk Model: 100 Infantry, Local Drone Superiority 56:36 - Ryan Sides With Syrskyi: The Window for Maneuver Is Open 58:56 - Behind the Drone Line, You Can Do Whatever You Want 59:09 - Area Denial: "Mine Every Tree Line, 15 to 20 Kilometers Deep" 1:00:56 - Bakhmut, Lost Villages, and the Politics of Holding Ground 1:03:23 - Drone Assaults: What Chosen Company Proved in 2023 1:05:46 - The Missed Breach at Huliaipole 1:11:11 - Skala's Problem: Public Affairs 1:15:12 - Ten-Thousand-Man Regiments: Who's Actually In Them? 1:18:01 - Mobilization, Prisoners, and Who Ends Up in Assault Units 1:21:03 - The 155th Brigade Scandal: "Just Dissolve It" Produced by the Borderlands Foundation. 🎧 Listen & subscribe: All episodes: https://ukrainemilitaryhistory.org/ Apple: https://ukrainemilitaryhistory.s.gy/d6Vm9D Spotify: https://ukrainemilitaryhistory.s.gy/bEE3Y9 Amazon: https://ukrainemilitaryhistory.s.gy/hun4CH ▶ Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@UkraineMilitaryHistory

    Ep 10 – Zelensky Fires His Defense Minister: Soldiers Speak Out — Rob Lee, Ryan O'Leary & Dima Putiata on the Week That Shook Kyiv (Part 1)
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About

Ukraine Military History is a podcast about how wars are actually fought, and won. Co-hosts Rob Lee and Dmytro Putiata — both Marines and respected military analysts — break down the war in Ukraine in the operational detail headlines miss: drone warfare, force structure, and what's really happening along the front. Host Samuel Cook, who taught Russian military history at West Point, widens the lens to the campaigns and doctrines that shaped modern war and still echo on today's battlefield. Produced by the Borderlands Foundation, the show preserves and teaches the hard-won lessons of Ukraine's

Information

  • Creator
    Samuel Cook, Rob Lee
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    17
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Samuel Cook, Rob Lee
  • Show Website
    Ukraine Military History

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