russia/ukraine front this evening. the u.s. state department has issued a do not travel warning for ukraine due to growing fears of a russian attack on the country. nonessential staff and families of american embassy personnel have been asked to leave ukraine. joe biden is also considering deploying thousands of u.s. troops and military assets to the baltics and eastern europe, but not to ukraine itself. meanwhile the uk's foreign office put out a statement saying they've uncovered a russian plot to install a pro-kremlin leader in ukraine, a claim russia has denied. we know there are more than 100,000 russian troops at various locations surrounding the border with ukraine. president biden has pledged some assistance but says the u.s. won't militarily intervene, not with booted on the ground if russia invades. of course there's still a glimmer of hope for a diplomatic solution, but we need to understand what putin actually wants and what we, the west, might be getting wrong.