Skip to content

General Petraeus on Ukraine and the Shadow War

October 27, 2026 · 52 min

Show notes

Winter is coming, and that means Ukraine has to gear up for another brutal season of strikes on its energy infrastructure - Russia’s bid to cut off power and heat, making life harder for all Ukrainians. Earlier this year, Ukrainian forces reversed the enemy’s territorial gains, and now Vladimir Putin appears to be stepping up long-range strikes targeting not just Ukraine’s energy system but also its water, railways, and bridges. The Ukrainians have responded with their own long-range attacks on Russian energy sites. Since the full-scale invasion began, former CIA director and retired four-star general David Petraeus has made numerous trips to Ukraine. He sits down with SpyCast host Sasha Ingber to discuss not just major developments on the battlefield but also the quieter side of the war: the covert maneuvering behind closed doors and the threats of sabotage troubling the European continent. 



For the episode transcript and the full list of all SpyCast episodes, visit: https://thecyberwire.com/podcasts/spycast

Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories: https://sashaingber.substack.com/ and https://www.youtube.com/@sasha-ingber 

For more information about the International Spy Museum, visit: https://www.spymuseum.org/

If you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic,  you can reach us by email at [email protected].

This show is brought to you by N2K Networks, Podville Media, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. This episode was hosted by Sasha Ingber and produced by Flora Warshaw and the team at Podville Media. At the International Spy Museum, Mike Mincey and Memphis Vaughan III are our video editors. Nastya Bykova is our graphic designer. Joshua Troemel runs our SPY social media. Amanda Ohlke is our Director of Adult Education and Mira Cohen is the Vice President of Programs. 

All episodes of SpyCast

Settings

Display

Language

Decides which stations you see first on the home page.

History

Recently played stations and episodes and your latest searches are only stored in this browser.

Notifications

A short notice when a podcast you follow has a new episode. Turn off single podcasts with the bell on their page.

Account

Save favorites – in the app and on the website.

Keyboard shortcuts

/
Open search
Space
Play or pause
← →
In the player: back 15 s, forward 30 s (episodes) · in a row: next tile
↑ ↓
In a row: target within the tile
Home / End
In a row: first or last tile
Esc
Close window or menu
?
This overview
Now playing

Go to station page

Play next

    Add episodes with “Play next” – they play after the current episode.