Frozen colnflict. we are in basically an attrition stage of the fight in eastern ukraine. i think that s an important term because it does not mean stalemate in a way that ends the fighting, right? the russians are continuing to try to push forward. they re not having much success in part because they have not recovered from their initial failures in this war to actually marshal a coherent operational, you know, plan. whereas the ukrainians are actually beginning to gain some momentum in a counteroffensive and are able to stitch together some of these tactical attacks into what could be a wider campaign. does a putin who is cornered and not making the gains he wanted at the speed he wanted and in effect, losing in your view, is he more likely to take a catastrophic step like the use, for instance, of a battlefield nuclear weapon? it s an important question and this is where the nato unity ask deterrence really comes into the play. i think the fact that we haven t seen putin try y