Russia loses 7000 troops in 5 days & Putin tells Trump: I’ll stop giving Iran intel if you cut off Ukraine

Day 1,488.


Today, after another weekend of so-called peace talks over
Russia’s war in Ukraine, we search for signs of a diplomatic
breakthrough (spoiler: there isn’t one). We report on a fresh
wave of long-range Ukrainian strikes deep inside Russia that
forced at least 15 Russian airports to suspend flight operations
and also examine the so-called “Gamechanger” plot – allegations
of a plan to stage a fake assassination attempt on Hungarian
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to boost his chances in next month’s
election. Later, we catch-up with Michael Bohnert at the RAND
Corporation, and ask whether Ukraine’s Flamingo cruise missiles
and interceptor drones are now setting the pace for aerial
warfare and military innovation.


Contributors:


Francis Dearnley (Host on Ukraine: The Latest). @FrancisDearnley
on X.


Dominic Nicholls (Host on Ukraine: The Latest). @DomNicholls on
X.


With thanks to Michael Bohnert of RAND.


NOW IN FULL VIDEO WITH MAPS & BATTLEFIELD
FOOTAGE:


Every episode is now available on our YouTube channel shortly
after the release of the audio version. You will find it here:
https://www.youtube.com/@UkraineTheLatest  


CONTENT REFERENCED:


Putin tells Trump: I’ll stop giving Iran intel if you cut off
Ukraine (The Telegraph):


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2026/03/20/putin-trump-iran-intel-ukraine/ 


What the Ukraine war tells us about the Iran conflict (Valerii
Zaluzhnyi in The Telegraph):


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/03/21/ukraine-war-tells-us-about-iran-conflict/ 


President Stubb of Finland: ‘We must face reality – the West has
split’ (David Blair’s Interview in The Telegraph):


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/22/president-stubb-finland-interview/ 


How Telegram became a death sentence for Russian soldiers (The
Telegraph):


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/03/20/how-telegram-became-a-death-sentence-for-russian-soldiers/ 


Ukrainians in disbelief over West’s failure to stop Iran’s deadly
drones (Adrian Blomfield in The Telegraph):


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/03/20/trump-iran-ukraine-russia-drone-warfare/ 


What Is Ukraine’s Interceptor, One of the World’s Most In-Demand
Drones? (UNITED24):


https://united24media.com/war-in-ukraine/what-is-ukraines-interceptor-one-of-the-worlds-most-in-demand-drones-17055


To tilt Hungarian election, Russians proposed staging
assassination attempt of Orban (Washington Post):


https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/03/21/hungary-election-interference-russia-orban/ 


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