objectives of the war very explicitly. so, remember, when we were first talking before he invaded, what were the objectives? ukraine s not a real country. they re just russians with accents. let s take them all in to russia. that didn t happen. denazification. that didn t happen. ending ukrainian military support military. that didn t happen. taking the major cities. that hasn t happened. and so, putin has very consciously changed the objectives of the war, which is, special military operation in defense of donbas. that, to me, is a hint how this war might end. if he connects crimea to donbas, takes mariupol, that might be a moment when he says, we ve achieved our objectives. let s now sue for peace. whether zelenskyy can sue for peace after they ve taken that territory, that s a different matter, but in putin s mind, i think that could be a moment for compromise. okay. michael mcfaul, come see me any
war ii, and so they celebrate it. it s almost a religious thing. and remember, putin is trying to connect his war in ukraine to that win in 1945, right? he s saying that he they are fighting nazis again. so, there s a direct propaganda tie to those two events. i wouldn t, however, overestimate the significance of trying to end the war by may 9th. they want a victory, but putin gets to define victory whatever way he wants to because russians don t have access to actual information. i suspect no matter what s happening on the battlefield, this special military operation in defense of donbas, that s the way they now describe it, will be declared a victory. how do you see this ending? do you have any sense of how long this is going to go on? well, it s very interesting to me that they ve changed the
because he wants to take more territory in ukraine. he s made it clear as day. no words are going to stop his tanks at this moment. wars tend to end in two ways, either one side wins or there s a stalemate on the battlefield, and right now we have neither of those conditions. it s just crystal clear to me. i watch russian television, read what he says, listen to his people pretty closely that they want to connect crimea to donbas and that s what this war is about, and maybe then, once they have achieved that they ll start talking. but until then, they ll keep fighting, and no amount of diplomats and third parties and the united nations will not change putin s fundamental calculation. well, he s committed war crimes. i m curious your reaction to reports he s awarded medals to troops that were accused of committing war crimes in bucha. doesn t that really reveal his mind-set in a way that any
orthodox easter for many of the ukrainians here is next sunday. this is only palm sunday but obviously the easter message coming from the pope is ringing loud here. it s interesting to be here in the capital because we hear air raid sirens arthel and strikes being stepped up in the area and it s creating a false sense of security, i think, because as people are kind of getting back to normal lives they know they are still very much a target and the entire country at war. arthel: i have some friends who are celebrating orthodox easter, orthodox christians celebrating next sunday but this is a holy day for sure. griff jenkins, be safe, thank you. this is reality today. my family, my friends, my colleagues, they are fearful for their life. i want to advocate for music and for art and for schools but at
nato estimates. russian army will move to southeast ukraine to donbas, area about the size of vermont. this is ukraine s coal country, it is not offer same cover as ukrainian forces used to pick up tanks and armored vehicles. zelenskyy told the atlantic, quote, this is not christian behavior at all as i understand it. on easter they will kill and they will be killed. here is what he told jake tapper. do you want president biden to come here? yes. are there any plans for him to come? i think he will. you think he will. i think he s the leader of the united states and that s why he should come here to see. last week the pentagon said two ukrainian neptune missiles destroyed flagship of black sea fleet. ambassador called the loss, quote, severe embarrassment for vladimir putin. first time in 40 years going back to falkins war that ship