There is about 120 kilometers distance between the north and the south arms of that double encirclement. if they close that distance, even by half, it puts the ukrainians in a really tough box. they re already fighting in 270 degree directions. every additional kilometer is a painful loss for the ukrainians. so, yeah, we re concerned. general clark, the russian intention here to grab new territory certainly, but also to attempt to surround those ukrainian forces fighting in those 270 degrees as you described, if russia gets there, right, is able to do that, is in a point where u.s. nato military support has to go beyond supplying weapons and imposing economic sanctions? because, you know, that scenario could be devastating for the ukrainian military. that s right.
You force your enemy to fight in 360 degree directions until they re exhausted. then you close in. there s been a war being waged here for eight years. so people know there have been lines here where there s been fighting back and forth ever since russia annexed crimea. so this is a well-worn battle front. we all know, we think, what the russians are going to try to do. so what can the ukrainians do to prevent this? so the ukrainians first of all they have trench lines here. they have three lines. they re tough to get through. and they ve held these lines pretty well. but what they have got to do, is they ve got to either with the forces here working this way or the forces coming through here, they ve got to blunt these offensives and hold this area open. this is a force on force battle. this is maneuver warfare. this is not about guys hiding in houses or behind trees and firing javelin missiles. what they need is they need tanks. they need mobile artillery and