>> he has been right in the middle of all of this, one of the moderators intended by vice president harris and president zelensky. ian, you're so good at cutting through the smoke and the bright shiny lights flashing everywhere. i'm curious what you think the most important development is this morning. what is the thing we should be looking at right now? >> this morning, i would probably say it's come in the last hour. it is the formal request by the puppet leaders of these separatist republics, if you will, the occupied territories of ukraine in the donbas, that have formally requested that the russian government send military troops to help. this is of course coming on the heels of last week when president putin met with olaf scholz and said acts of genocide were being committed.