thank you. mike: the war in ukraine could last for years, nato secretary general said today calling on western governments to continue supporting ukraine to deter russian aguess. steve harrigan has details from odesa, hello, steve. steve: mike, before russian invasion many predicted if there was a war it would only last a matter of days. now the war between russia and ukraine is well into fourth month and the head of nato says it could last years. with proper military aid ukraine can begin to take back territory in the east of ukraine that has been losing steadily to russia under very heavy artillery assault. in the meantime ukraine s president zelenskyy leading kyiv for black seacoast and he s come to the embattled city of
jon: as ukraine awaits a decision from the european union on the candidacy for membership, the country s president is bracing for the worst a lot of musical and ski says he expects russia to ramp up its attacks. in the meantime the families of three americans who went missing in ukraine are now speaking out steve harrigan has a very latest on the war in the 117th day. before the russians invaded ukraine there were widescale predictions that if there was a war it would only last a matter of days, now that war between russia and ukraine is already in the fourth month and the head of nato says this is a war that could last for years. he also said with proper military aid ukraine can take back territory in the east but it s been gradually losing under artillery assaults from russia.
counsellor activity being able to help ukrainian citizens get out of the country if they can, but also beginning to assess what will ukraine s needs be to rebuild, you know, once this phase of the conflict ends. you know, this got overshadowed largely by the war but there s another big event in europe over the weekend that s france s presidential election. emmanuel macron won a second term beating out the far right candidate mary le pen, a big supporter of putin prior to the war and known for not being too fond of the eu and nato. how much did all of this play into her downfall? i think, france has recognized in the middle of a war it may not be the best move to change, you know, your commander in chief. and certainly, from a u.s. standpoint, it is very much a bullet dodged and one of the key elements in the u.s. strategy,
process. a state department official telling cnn earlier today if that were to happen it s likely that a nato ally would be involved but noting that these kinds of attempts in the past, in the recent past, have failed. and, matt, as we watch this play out, watching a russian troop buildup, a tank buildup, artillery buildup, a ground war in the east. but russia today also testing an icbm, an intercontinental ballistic missile, sort of bragging about it. reporter: yeah. this is their icbm, a system vladimir putin has been bragging about going back several years now. the missile system itself is not new and the idea russia has icbms is not new. this is a concept going back decades. what is notable is this conspicuous timing of all of this. vladimir putin knows if he does a test like this in the middle of a war it might play well at home in state media propaganda and also sends a message to the west and to ukraine. maybe not more of a message than
the rhetoric rhetoric. and it s the audience for the rhetoric is actually domestic audience the rhetoric is actually domestic audience not western audience, not russia audience not western audience, not russia i audience not western audience, not russia. i think it s also a wrong message. because westjust doesn t understand this. look, they see reality. understand this. look, they see reality, they see was happening on the borders. they see the request of all government for military support, financial all government for military support, financial support of why they re asking financial support of why they re asking this request, and? because we need theirs asking this request, and? because we need theirs. we understand the urgency need theirs. we understand the urgency. and yet when president zelinski urgency. and yet when president zelinski speaks to the public about the west zelinski speaks to the public about the west he pretends like nothing happening. the west h