Vantage Point North

The Vantage Point North is proud to present the next step: VPN podcast! The podcast will have two types of episodes. The first one that is already published is a weekly magazine of defense, military, weapons and conflicts related topics from a Nordic perspective narrated by Petri Mäkelä . There will also be less regular special episodes devoted to a single topic with a shorter version free to listen for everyone and a longer one for subscribers. The first special series will be about the Finnish defense concept, the Finnish military forces and the readiness of the nation to defend itself against external threats. The first weekly podcast is already out on most major platforms. It's topics are the Russian offensive in Donbass, new main battle tanks and the Finnish training during the NATO-membership application period. The podcast is available on Anchor:   As well as on following platforms: Spotify Stitcher Amazon Music Some people have also found it on Apple podcasts, but my apple-

  One of the most common hot takes from the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been the idea that the main battle tank, that has ruled the battlefield for a century, is no longer a viable system. Depending on the author one of the modern wonder weapons, be it anti-tank missiles like Javelin, NLAW, the Bayraktar TB-2 drone or the accurate drone spotted artillery and mortar fire have made the tank an obsolete behemoth that is unable to successfully operate in the modern battlefield. This conclusion is easy to come by when observing the Russian attacks on Kyiv, Sumy and Cherniv from the western media coverage. Especially the battle for Kyiv was indeed a triumph of the Ukrainian light infantry against mechanized Russian forces. But was this victory somehow revolutionary? The answer is straight forward, it was predictable to a degree that many analysts discounted the possibility of a Russian attack towards Kyiv from the north. The terrain through marches of Pripyat and the Chernobyl exclusio