Przemysław Żurawski vel Grajewski, professor of political science at the Univesity of Łódź, was TVP World’s guest invited to talk about the progress of the Ukrainian counter-offensive in the east of the country and how it exposes Russia as a giant on feet of clay.

Although the details of the military operation that lead to Ukraine successfully liberating Lyman are not known, several factors contributed to that and they can be easily identified.

The Western-supplied long-range artillery gives Ukraine an edge and forced Russia to withdraw its logistical facilities farther away from the front, said Prof. Żurawski vel Grajewski.

Endemic corruption, the fact that logistics had to deliver supplies to the frontline using overextended supply lines constantly under fire has now been combined with the fact that most of Russia’s professional peacetime troops have been killed, wounded, or taken prisoner, and are now being replaced with ill-equipped, poorly-motivated, and untrained conscripts. The result of such a mix of factors could hardly have been expected to be different.

Other matters discussed by Prof. Żurawski vel Grajewski were: how will the loss of Lyman affect Russia and Putin’s regime politically and militarily; historical examples of similar Russian defeats over the past century-and-a-half; why did the world believe Russia is such a dangerous superpower and how Russia has again been exposed as a giant on feet of clay.