and quite a contentious situation. >> neil: you know, there's another argument to that one, general, that goes like this. through the course of this four or five-week war, his soldiers have taken about 20% of ukraine. largely along the east, parts of the south, along the coast. one of his demands, vladimir putin's demands, will be i keep that along with crimea. i cannot envision president zelensky agreeing to that. what do you think of that? >> well, generally speaking, you start your negotiations based on where the troops sit at the at the time of the negotiations begin. that's what putin will want to do now. if he's looking for an off ramp and i think he is, but again, it's going to be difficult to find one that will give him what he wantsn't i don't think zelensky will give him the donbas region or allow him to