Putin's alleged quid pro quo over intelligence

Day 1,488.

Today, after another weekend of so-called peace talks over Russia’s war in Ukraine, we search for signs of a diplomatic breakthrough (spoiler: there isn’t one). We report on a fresh wave of long-range Ukrainian strikes deep inside Russia that forced at least 15 Russian airports to suspend flight operations and also examine the so-called “Gamechanger” plot – allegations of a plan to stage a fake assassination attempt on Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to boost his chances in next month’s election. Later, we catch-up with Michael Bohnert at the RAND Corporation, and ask whether Ukraine’s Flamingo cruise missiles and interceptor drones are now setting the pace for aerial warfare and military innovation.

Contributors:

Francis Dearnley (Host on Ukraine: The Latest). @FrancisDearnley on X.

Dominic Nicholls (Host on Ukraine: The Latest). @DomNicholls on X.

With thanks to Michael Bohnert of RAND.

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Every episode is now available on our YouTube channel shortly after the release of the audio version. You will find it here: https://www.youtube.com/@UkraineTheLatest  

CONTENT REFERENCED:

Putin tells Trump: I’ll stop giving Iran intel if you cut off Ukraine (The Telegraph):

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2026/03/20/putin-trump-iran-intel-ukraine/ 

What the Ukraine war tells us about the Iran conflict (Valerii Zaluzhnyi in The Telegraph):

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/03/21/ukraine-war-tells-us-about-iran-conflict/ 

President Stubb of Finland: ‘We must face reality – the West has split’ (David Blair’s Interview in The Telegraph):

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/22/president-stubb-finland-interview/ 

How Telegram became a death sentence for Russian soldiers (The Telegraph):

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/03/20/how-telegram-became-a-death-sentence-for-russian-soldiers/ 

Ukrainians in disbelief over West’s failure to stop Iran’s deadly drones (Adrian Blomfield in The Telegraph):

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/03/20/trump-iran-ukraine-russia-drone-warfare/ 

What Is Ukraine’s Interceptor, One of the World’s Most In-Demand Drones? (UNITED24):

https://united24media.com/war-in-ukraine/what-is-ukraines-interceptor-one-of-the-worlds-most-in-demand-drones-17055

To tilt Hungarian election, Russians proposed staging assassination attempt of Orban (Washington Post):

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/03/21/hungary-election-interference-russia-orban/ 

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