{"podcast":{"title":"War on the Rocks","slug":"war-on-the-rocks-935230","podcast_index_feed_id":935230,"rss_url":"https://warontherocks.libsyn.com/rss","website_url":"https://warontherocks.com","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/9/4/b/5/94b5a817a33f839616c3140a3186d450/WOTR_glass_logo_big-20250414-0ym78u99wn.jpg","author":"War on the Rocks","episode_count":335,"summary":"Discussions over drinks with security, defense, and foreign policy insiders and experts. The original War on the Rocks podcast series.","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/war-on-the-rocks-935230"},"episode":{"title":"The Last Stand Dilemma in Ukraine","slug":"the-last-stand-dilemma-in-ukraine","published_at":"2025-11-20T19:15:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/war-on-the-rocks-935230/the-last-stand-dilemma-in-ukraine","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/war-on-the-rocks-935230","url":"https://warontherocks.libsyn.com/the-last-stand-dilemma-in-ukraine","audio_url":"https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/warontherocks/WOTR_Lawrence_Freedman_11.20.25.mp3?dest-id=298196","summary":"When should Ukraine commit more forces to a perhaps desperate stand to hold ground it will likely lose? And when is it the difficult but correct choice to preserve the force and pull back to the next defensive line? This is the real, agonizing strategic dilemma shaping the war, now highlighted in the fight for Pokrovsk. Distinguished strategist Lawrence Freedman joins Ryan at a cafe in Vilnius, where they were both speaking at a conference, to dissect this critical question. They also sort through how this relates to each side's theory of victory and the shifting realities of the battlefield.","meta_description":"When should Ukraine commit more forces to a perhaps desperate stand to hold ground it will likely lose? And when is it the difficult but correct choice to…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1499,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/war-on-the-rocks-935230/episodes/the-last-stand-dilemma-in-ukraine/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/war-on-the-rocks-935230/the-last-stand-dilemma-in-ukraine.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}