will force ukraine to come to the negotiating table. russia's been pounding the energy infrastructure of ukraine for weeks now, and he believes that that will put pressure on ukraine to make concessions to russia. he believes that there is ukraine fatigue in the west, and he's expert at driving wedges between different european countries. so as bad as things have gone for him, i think he believes that if he can get through the winter, he has a chance of getting something that he can present to the russian people and to the russian elite as a victory. and it does look, doesn't it, as though germany, france, sometimes even the united states, actually do want to push ukraine into some sort of negotiations. yeah, absolutely. and vladimir putin follows this. he listens to this and he looks ahead and he plays the long game.