is there from the russian perspective? >> yes. we ignore the west at our peril. this is putin and his senior military leaders sending a message to the west that they will seek to interdict western supplies coming in and also to western volunteers who wish to enter, that they will seek to use these strikes to dissuade them. they are broadening the scope of this war, but without really the resources to conduct a campaign across the entirety of the ukraine. >> and in the south, a very different picture because as you mentioned, the russians are having a hard time encircling smaller cities than kyiv. but if you look at the total territory that they are now engaged in and combating ukrainian forces on, it's quite a larger swath of territory. where do you see this going? >> well, the russians are