What do we know about this drone attack is it retaliation from that strike on that ship yeah good afternoon Simon I mean overnight Russia launched this huge wave of missile and drone attacks on Ukraine apparently 46 um combination of drones cruise missiles and the like Ukrainian claims they shot down 32 Here's an example of what they claim they shot down what you can see here is the very familiar triangular shape of the shyed 136 drone which is that Iranian Supply drone one of the challenges Russia often Target the critical energy infrastructure of Ukraine but even when these things are Shut down they still tumble into buildings and the like cause Devastation um but it's no coincidence that actually Russia um is almost certainly retribution because literally a couple of days ago um Ukraine managed to successfully attack a landing vessel at fuia Port and Crimea we're seeing the Explosion um here it was a massive explosion of Russian Landing ship almost certainly this ship was Pack full of explosives in in some way whe it's ammunition or bombs or whatever um now the Russians amazingly admit that the the um this thing um has been damaged here's a per picture we're Looking at the picture just here that's the vessel and there we go um that's it's damaged apparently it's been obliterated there's nothing there so typical um Russian understatement um now the Russians claim they shot down to the fighter jets that were involved Ukrainian fighter jets involved in this Attack which of course Ukraine denies Grant shaps the defense secretary has been used as an example of how the ukrainians have destroyed 20% of russan Black Sea Fleet that they're on the front foot and that actually the Ukraine war isn't stuck in some sort of Frozen Conflict at the moment and happening on Christmas day as well I'm sure that was planned maybe as a certain sort of landmark let's talk about Minka how significant is that claim that Russia has that they've seized that City despite the fact we can talk about ships we can talk about tanks getting destroyed and the like but ultimately The only metrics of success in this war are territory and bluntly the Ukraine have been going since June with their spring offensive and the front lines haven't moved that much meanwhile the Russians have been focused on the donbass that's clearly been their priority if you remember back the battle For bmot last almost a year um literally 30,000 deaths as a result of their um um Onslaught there since then we've seen the fight around abiva just around here for the last two or three months and marinka has been the other area of intense fighting uh on Christmas Day the Russians claimed that they'd finally seized Minka Ukraine said they hadn't 24 hours later um Valerie Zusi who's the head of the Ukrainian Armed Force admitted that they have actually withdrawn from rinka itself now that's really important because Russia has put a huge amount of effort into the season The dbass these cities these towns sorry are a pathway to seizing this and I suspect even though it's a small tactical Victory Russia will feel very emboldened by this uh the seizure of that strategically important town and speculation of course for where do you think this conflict moves now well the What we have to remember is um Ukraine is the David to Russia's Goliath and without Western Aid continuing to flow Ukraine would struggle now you remember the EU can't yet approve funding for next year Hungary stood in the way Russian Congress is uh standing firm as Well and and it's very difficult to see either side ending up Victorious as a result of this so actually we do see those sides need to refresh their military capability we're into some sort of Frozen conflict the West will start piling on pressure on both sides now to Come to some sort of negotiated agreement that will be deeply uncomfortable with president zelinski but ultimately if the war is Frozen what other options are there Sean fascinating as always thank you very much indeed for joining us