Preston Stewart is a West Point graduate and Afghanistan veteran who covers the Ukraine war extensively on his YouTube channel, his podcast called War and Conflict, and his newsletter called Defense Tech News. Michael Kofman is a world-class military analyst specializing in the Russian and Ukrainian militaries. He is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment and he hosts The Russia Contingency podcast on the War on the Rocks platform.
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Transcript:
https://lexfridman.com/preston-stewart-michael-kofman-transcript

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EPISODE LINKS:
Michael’s X: https://x.com/KofmanMichael
Michael’s Podcast: https://warontherocks.com/premium/therussiacontingency/
Preston’s YouTube: https://youtube.com/@prestonstewart
Preston’s X: https://x.com/prestonstew_

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OUTLINE:
(00:00) – Introduction
(00:43) – Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections
(08:20) – State of the war in Ukraine
(21:59) – Drone warfare and the kill zone
(59:09) – Who is winning the war?
(1:10:46) – Military analysis of Russia’s 2022 invasion
(1:26:34) – Battle of Bakhmut
(1:42:17) – War optimism and bad information
(2:02:26) – Prigozhin’s mutiny
(2:16:40) – Putin vs Zelenskyy
(2:34:38) – Trump
(2:43:33) – Paths to peace in Ukraine
(2:54:13) – Nature of war

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