i put the question to it. arnold t is the european security research fellow at the royal united services institute. no, don't think so. what we saw yesterday is a significant defensive capability in the form times which has to be used with all of the other and military assets of the western provided, linking to fighting vehicles and artillery. and that will have real use come spring and summer when ukraine is going to go on the significance offensive in terms of the strikes through seeing if the last 24 hours, which has been striking needs civilian targets for months now. so i don't think that those 2 things are linked in terms of escalation of what they did in terms of the time commitment yesterday. and then on the 3rd and final points. yes, we're still taking some ground, but it's incremental. it's not much grounded. so no strategic value in the tank and very, very heavy cost for are you convinced then that when once we reach a certain number of tanks in ukraine, that we will see the gradient military then be able to not only hold these front lines, but be able then to push russian forces back,

he is the european security research fellow with the royal united services institute. no, don't think so. what we saw yesterday is a significant defensive capability in the form times which has to be used with all of the other and military assets of the western provided, linking through fighting vehicles and artillery. and that will have real use come spring and summer when ukraine is going to go on the significance offensive in terms of the strikes that we're seeing as the last 24 hours, which has been striking the civilian targets for months now. and so i don't think that those 2 things are linked in terms of escalation of what they did in terms of the time commitment yesterday. and then on the 3rd and final points. yes, we're still taking some ground, but it's incremental. it's not much ground. it's of no strategic value in that bank and very, very heavy cost for or you could bids then that when once we reach a certain number of tanks in ukraine, that we will see the gradient military. they'd be able to not only hold these front lines, but be able then to push russi

juliana suess is an expert from the think tank rusi, the royal united services institute.cy. it was a huge moment, of course. yuri gagarin became the most known person on the planet almost instantly when he completed that flight,when he returned safely down to earth, especially since the us was actually very close to launching their own first human into space just shortly afterwards. so, there was a bit of a race for sure. it was a huge moment in the sense that it was a tremendous achievement that had barely been dreamed aboutjust years beforehand. obviously, we saw the launch of sputnik, the first artificial satellite into space in 1957. so, only four years after, there was a tremendous quick development into launching a satellite, to actually launching a human and returning him safely back down to earth. all eyes were now on a world that lay beyond earth. the soviet union and the united states each wanted to show that they could get to the moon first. it became known as the space race. russia had put the first person in space. american prestige was taking a beating. and

he is the european security research fellow at the royal united services institute. mr. arnold is good to have you with us tonight. talk to me about just the mindset that we need to have to understand what is happening right now. in ukraine 24 hours ago, we were reporting the us. germany will send troops to ukraine. today we're talking about renewed air strikes from russia, russia, claiming new territory, a small town today. is this the reality check after of the sigh of relief we saw yesterday? no, don't think so. what we saw yesterday is a significant offensive capability in the form times which has to be used with all the deal, the and military assets of the western provided, linking to fighting vehicles and artillery. and that will have real use come spring and summer when ukraine is going to go on the significance offensive in terms of the strikes through scene last 24 hours, which has been striking the civilian targets for months now. and so i don't think that those 2 things are linked in terms of escalation of what the exams is, the time commitment yesterday,

working group on the use of mercenaries in oxford, samuel romani, associate fellow at the royal united services institute and author of putting his war on ukraine and in amsterdam. marika to hone assistant professor in international criminal law at the university of amsterdam, and especially on crimes of aggression. thank you for joining us on inside. sorry, a very warm welcome. samuel. let me sot with you. russia has suffered repeated setbacks on the battlefield in ukraine. recently. but it appears that with the help of mercenaries from the wagner group, it could be about to make some gains. talk to us 1st about the role of wagner in the conflict in ukraine. how expensive is it? and how active are these mess marries? so the larger group is down, the largest contingent that has ever been according to us. estimates is got around 50000 people. $40000.00 of them are convicts and prisoners who promotions lifted out of the prisons in exchange for amnesty a and a salary. and 10000 of them are private military contractors. initially, the wonder group was tasked with really the role of the a savage order disrupt

security issues and in oxford were joined by a samuel romani associate fellow at the royal united services institute of a warm welcome to all of you for that let's start with you and sweden's freedom of expression. is it too far reaching, allowing such a provocative act like this that many countries around the world would consider a hate crime? i think that's the big debate in sweden at the moment, laura, after the burning of the koran, as mentioned in the report, fred: prior to our discussion there, this is not the 1st time that ross miss paula dawn has done this in sweet and he seeks to go around, he seeks to provoke this kind of reaction and he's made it very much about air, freedom of speech. now, there's no sort of coincidence that he's going around burning a koran rather than a christian bible, because this is the kind of thing that he thinks is going to provoke a backlash against muslims in this country. and he is part of the movement that doesn't want to see on the bosoms in this country. so far, what he did yesterday is entirely legal. that's the way it's been interpreted in this country. f

i put that question to ed arnold , the european security research fellow at the royal united services instituteed: no, i don't think so. what we saw yesterday is a significant defensive capability in the form of tanks, which have to be used with other military assets from the west like firing vehicles and artillery. and that will have real use come spring and summer when ukraine will go on significant offensive. in terms of the strikes we have seen over the last 24 hours, russia has been striking these civilian targets for months now. so i don't think that those two things are linked in terms of escalation, in terms of the tank commitment yesterday. and then on the third and final point, yes, russia is still taking some ground, but it is incremental. it is not much ground, it is of no strategic value, and they are paying a very heavy price for it. brent: are you convinced that once we reach a certain number of tanks in ukraine that we will see the ukrainian military then be able to, not only hold the front lines, but be able to push russian forces back? are you convinced that is going to happen

some helamano is associate fellow at royal united services institute. he's joining us now from oxford. thank you very much. indeed for being with us. our correspondent, natasha. there was explaining some of the strategic elements of why this time might be important. but why do you think it is that the wagner group is so anxious to say that it has claimed victory in the center of the city, even though moscow is being cautious about that? well, this is jane per goshen flagship military mission. it's him backward, mozilla, dar and you jenny, production is locked currently in a shadow war against the russian defense minister. telegram candles are describing, survey should i give. he's also clashing with that regional governors like c, petersburg governor and a bag law. and he's rumored half political aspiration as of his own, perhaps leading estate esther conservative party down the line. so this is vital for production to get want to went up the defense industry and also elevate his profile at the elite level and the public consciousness to bolster his pol

ed arnold from the royal united services institute, thank you for your time.ars in the cup semifinals but last night they just regulars in the cup semifinals but last night theyjust could not stop marcus rashford. manchester united are in pole position to reach the league cup final, after dominating the away leg at nottingham forest, in the semifinal at the city ground. the last time united played there they won 8—1. and even though, that was back in the �*90s, older forest fans will have winced at the way the in—form marcus rashford burst through, after just five minutes. and manchester united advanced further towards wembley when wout weghorst pounced to get his first goal for his new club, before bruno fernandez added a third late on. by then, rashford had been taken off, as the club look to keep their star man fresh. i'm happy with marcus, his performance and his development. from the start of the season he's growing, and he keeps doing that. so what we have to aim for with him — and in the first place he's responsible for that — to keep his process going.

charles parton is senior associate fellow at the royal united services institute. this afternoon. what's your assessment of actually what is going on in china ? well, i think the party china? well, i think the party has been overwhelmed by. it's just what whatever policies they had wanted to keep in place have been swept away and i mean, there are many it must be many, many more deaths. anecdotally, you hear of people who say for members of their family to have died see obituaries in, died or you see obituaries in, various organisations . so there various organisations. so there will be no better off than the of the world i expect when assaulted by this virus. and that's worse all of the less vaccines that they have . but the vaccines that they have. but the body's trying to hide it. and i think it's going to find that very difficult because people, whatever the statistics that they publish and people will know about those have fallen ill or have died as a result of coping . does it matter in this coping. does it matter in this as to whether china is us, the truth