00:00Well, for more on this, I'm joined in the studio now by our Chief Foreign Editor, Rob
00:04Parsons. Hi, Rob. Tell us more about Putin's new red line. What exactly does it signify?
00:10Well, it certainly sounds like a hardening of the Russian position. The Kommersant, one
00:16of the main Russian newspapers, says Vladimir Putin draws his red lines as its headline
00:22today. But it doesn't really make clear, and Vladimir Putin himself hasn't made very
00:29clear, what the consequence would be of crossing those red lines. There was a bit of a suggestion
00:36a couple of months back, when Vladimir Putin had a meeting with the heads of international
00:42news agencies. They put the question, what would happen if the West were to give long-range
00:48missiles to Ukraine? And he said that Russia would develop its air defences to be more
00:54effective against those systems, and that it might consider giving equivalent weapons
00:58to countries around the world, who could pose a potential threat to the United States
01:03or others who might be giving those weapons. I presume he had in mind countries like Iran.
01:07But it doesn't go beyond that. The use of the word going to war is what I suppose people
01:14are alarmed about, and that was clearly Vladimir Putin's intention, to scare the West into
01:20backing away from the possibility of allowing long-range weapons to fall into, or to be
01:24used by the Ukrainians deep inside Russia's territory. The problem for Vladimir Putin
01:31on the one hand, though, is that by doing this, he sort of pushes the West into agreeing
01:37to the Ukrainians having them, because otherwise it would look like they're backing down in
01:41the face of Russian threats. The other thing, too, I think people will be asking themselves
01:47in this is, really, what does he mean? Does he mean by that that Russia will declare war
01:51against the West? Quite clearly not. I think it's for that reason that Donald Tusk, the
01:56Polish Prime Minister, said, look, just dismiss this. Don't pay too much attention to it.
02:00I wouldn't attach excessive importance to the latest statements from Vladimir Putin,
02:05he said. They rather show the difficult situation the Russians have on the front.
02:10Well, Rob, meanwhile, Russia says it's recaptured a portion of territory in its western Kursk
02:15region. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, had earlier confirmed Moscow's troops
02:20were mounting a counter-offensive. Let's take a quick listen to Volodymyr Zelensky.
02:26The enemy has been stopped in the Kharkiv region, and their progress in the Donetsk region
02:30has been slowed down, although it is very difficult there. The situation there is still
02:34far from positive. Nevertheless, they have withdrawn their forces in other areas.
02:39Rob, where does Ukraine's operation in the Kursk region of Russia stand today?
02:45Well, what Zelensky is saying is it's what Ukraine planned for. And I think what he means
02:50by that is that one of the intentions of the operation in Kursk, in Kursk region, was to
02:57draw off Russian troops from the Donetsk region, where the Russians are really pushing the
03:03Ukrainians very hard around towns like Chasiv Yar and Pokrovsk, and threatening to break
03:09through in places. So the idea was this would be an operation that would relieve the pressure
03:14on Ukrainians fighting there. To that extent, when he says that it's working for us, he
03:18means that some 40,000 troops have now been sent by the Russians to Kursk region to regain
03:26territory that they've lost there against the Ukrainians. Those troops had to come from
03:30somewhere. And that's one of the reasons he's suggesting, implying, is why the Russian operation
03:37in Donetsk has slowed down, why it's come to a grinding halt in Kharkiv.
03:43On the ground in Kursk itself, there's a bit of confusion about where things are. The Russians
03:48have certainly counterattacked to the west of the Ukrainian positions in the Kursk region.
03:53But these are the areas where the Ukrainians weren't particularly well dug in. And there
03:58are signs, too, that the Ukrainians themselves have been launching a counterattack against
04:03a counterattack. So at this stage, it's difficult to read too much into what is happening in
04:08Kursk. But certainly the Ukrainians are interpreting it as positive in the sense that the Russians
04:14have at last been forced, after some delay, to withdraw a fairly large body of their soldiers
04:20away from the front lines in Donetsk.
