we witnessed the deliberate assault on their cultural heritage. so this is vladimir putin s idea of liberating a paternal brotherly nation. so i think he s doing all this because he loves ukrainians or as many believe because he s motivated by a rising hatred and anger at their westward loving democracy at their resistance and at their refusal to come under russian control. from kharkiv to kherson, 0 decem odessa to donbas. a heroic effort has been underway since the first missile struck. here the national museum of the history of ukraine, an exhibit on this past year of war and especially reminders that so many russian targets were clearly marked children, people live here. former deputy culture minister
glory to every warrior of ours. glory to everyone who protects our country. we bring to ukraine to donbas, and to bakhmut, where our defense forces awaited. ukrainian forces on the frontlines saying they are in fact getting the weapons they need, and the sooner they get them, the sooner there will still win. being sent to ukraine. but the latest military aid package from the white house saying, ukraine and its allies, are signing up for a long war that russia will prevail. it s already been a long battle for the city of bakhmut in eastern ukraine, with both sides now digging in. here s cnn s will ripley. ukrainians remain defiant in bakhmut, as heavy fighting continues on the outskirts. russian forces still pounding the city, as they ve been doing for months now. driving most of its 70,000 residents away. these days, it s eerily quiet here. silence broken only by rushing soldiers and russia s deadly bombardments.
a neighboring country, appearing most at risk, is moldova. which, like ukraine, has a pro russian breakaway region. it is those in europe, and are more ukrainian refugees, per capita, than any other country. if there were to spill over into moldova, how would that change the situation? you re right, moldova s poor, and with very limited military capabilities. they already have the stretch, that you should see there it. is already walk you pipe by russians. so, there is one general trump it, in that we will call all the way to transnistria, take odessa, and connect everything. remember, there are new military objective, right, now is to connect crimea to donbas. but some have said, they should go all the way to transnistria. i should say, i m skeptical
they already have the stretch, that you should see there it. is already walk you pipe by russians. so, there is one general trump it, in that we will call all the way to transnistria, take odessa, and connect everything. remember, there are new military objective, right, now is to connect crimea to donbas. but some have said, they should go all the way to transnistria. i should say, i m skeptical with the capacity to do that. if they are already struggling in donbas, to go on to take odessa and, then all the way to transnistria, i don t think that they have the military capability to do that. but, moldova is not in nato, in moldova would be very hard pressed to fight the russians, should they choose to do, expanding into transnistria, and beyond. as you mentioned, moldova is not a member of nato.
behind them, so the offensive will build, it didn t get off to a very big start what the russians are trying to do is to draw a line from kharkiv in the north to mariupol, and create the close the salient that would enclose, and therefore surround about 40% of the ukrainian army who are well dug in in that area. that is a big line to draw if you look at it on a map, kharkiv to mariupol. more immediately the russians are trying to draw a smaller line, south of isium as far as donetsk. that would enclose a smaller area, and the two places they want to go for, they are not particularly close to them. if they take the two places, then they are, thatis take the two places, then they are, that is the key to controlling all of the other routes in and out of to donbas, so that will be the key battle but it hasn t really started