he joins us live from brussels. good to have you with us, steven. thank you. so with more sanctions piling on, and russia expelled from the eu and human rights council, the pressure is building. but russia seems undeterred at least at this point. so, is this strictly right now a war that will end on the battlefield? well, we don t know of course but i don t think this kind of pressure as you have just suggested will deter vladimir putin. right now, his situation is difficult. there is nothing to present at home that sounds anything like victory, so from his point of view, the war will go on. and the ukrainians also, you know, maybe are overoptimistic but they are feeling like we ve driven them out of kyiv, so let s keep going. they are not ready to talk. um, and frankly only succeed if one side wins or if both sides are utterly exhausted and i
the east. and then, i think things will, sorry to say again, pick up again. steven, the european commission chief ursula von der leyen is expected to meet with ukrainian president zelenskyy in the capital of ukraine today. what message is she sending? and what is zelenskyy hoping to hear? well, she is sending solidarity. that s all she can send. i mean, she runs the european commission, which is the bureaucracy. i mean, it s it s the council of the european union countries that have more to do with actually what happens in this war. but the commission is the one that draws up sanctions for countries to approve. the commission is involved with humanitarian aid. it deals with refugees. so i think it is a very important gesture of solidarity. now, zelenskyy will welcome that. kyiv s a safer place now than it was a few weeks ago.
welcome back. i am lynda kinkade. you are watching cnn. moscow s brutal military offensive has led to russia s suspension from the united nations human rights council. thursday s vote by the u.n. general assembly was overwhelming. 93-24 with 58 abstentions. the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. called the move important and historic. china notably voted against the resolution and warned that it would set a dangerous precedent. after the vote, russia s ambassador lashed out saying moscow had decided to end its membership on the human rights council. so can diplomatic pressure and the long list of economic sanctions change russia s behavior? well for that, we are joined by steven, the chief diplomatic correspondent for the new york times.
but at the same time, um, it is a brave thing to to do. but he he, i must say, you can hear it in his speeches, what he said to the u.n. he is a little bit fed up with nice words of support. um, and the situation is difficult. we ve seen various horrible scenes in bucha and other places. there will be more of those. so, the sense that, you know, as culeba says, we want weapons, weapons, weapons, and we want them now, now, now. now, they are getting tons of weapons but they are not going to get them from ursula von der leyen. well, we have to leave it there for now. steven alana, the chief diplomatic correspondent in europe for the new york times. good to have you with us. thanks so much for your time. thank you. well still to come on cnn newsroom, a shooting in tel aviv leaves two dead. israeli security forces say they have now killed the gunman. we are going to live to tel