Why Russia Is Losing the War in Ukraine
About this episode
Klein talks with national security analyst Andrea Kendall-Taylor about the war in Ukraine after Ukraine's surprise Kharkiv counteroffensive. She explains why Russia is struggling — a corruption-ridden military, flawed planning, depleted equipment, and mass casualties including many of Russia's best soldiers — and why Putin's partial mobilization of 300,000 reservists won't fix morale or logistics. They discuss what the U.S. got wrong about Putin: Western analysts assumed rational deterrence would work and missed how personalized, information-starved autocracies make catastrophic bets. Kendall-Taylor describes Western sanctions as eroding Russia's long-run economic and technological capacity, assesses Putin's gas leverage over Europe as miscalculated, and warns a weakened Russia could still lash out. She concludes the most likely outcome is a long, grinding war with no clear end.