kwan do. in another rambling diatribe today, putin leveled outrageous lies about the ukrainian people, and insisted that his war in ukraine is going according to plan. each as the so-called great russian army in ukraine is plagued by poor morale, with some soldiers surrendering. while the kremlin has tried to hide this from the russian people, the defense ministry confirmed casualties for the first time. and there's the crushing weight of sanctions. moscow stocks closed again for the fourth straight day. the foreign minister said russia was ready to conduct talks with ukraine, but added russia would continue the war to the bitter end. with me now, keer simmons and ann applebaum. i wonder if you are getting a sense of how much of the reality