position there, fareed, which is what i worry about. the southeastern corner, the so-called donbass region, has a high percentage of russian speakers. it would also constitute, if you will, a land bridge that goes from russia proper to crimea. one could hypothesize he may push in, grab the southeast corner and then it's just another version of the same playbook from georgia and same book that got him crimea. that is probably the calculus he's wrestling with right now. >> how should -- and presumably what he's trying to do -- part of what he's trying to do is put ukraine on edge, make it difficult to consolidate its democracy and essentially dare tell him, don't you dare try to aly formally for nato membership and telling nato, don't you dare admit them. how should the ukrainians and the west view this issue?