ukraine. do you share those fears? >> i certainly know that the front line states, the eastern flank, former states of the old soviet union have those fears. we want to provide them reassurance. we want to provide them defensive capabilities. they all have their own, but we have flown some troops to provide additional reassurance to them. one can never underestimate vladimir putin. this is not just a war of choice he has made. it's going to be a war of carnage, and i certainly hope he doesn't make this choice, and i certainly hope he does not go further. he could set off an enormous conflict in europe. what is really fundamental here, wolf, which you know from all of your years covering international relations and foreign policy and international security is what putin is doing here is not only a front to ukraine, to europe, but to the