James Meek talks to Tom about his latest report from Ukraine, where he spent time in Kharkiv and Kupiansk in the east of the country. In Kharkiv, he found a population living in fear not only of the Russian glide bombs falling daily on the city, but also of the increasingly ruthless activity of the Ukrainian military recruitment office, desperate to secure fresh troops to resist Russia's advances. James and Tom discuss the current state of the conflict, what a Trump presidency might mean for US policy and whether Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles could make any difference to the progress of the war. Read James's latest report from Ukraine: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n22/james-meek/nobody-wants-to-hear-this Sponsored Link: Get 10% off creative writing courses at NCW Academy in 2025 with code LRB10: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/academy/ More audio from the LRB: Discover the LRB's subscription podcast, Close Readings, and audiobooks here: https://lrb.me/audio Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.