House for attacking forces. and it s just the beginning. the other thing, the russian forces aren t big for a fight like this. and the ukrainians do have a lot of small arms, lower level weapons that matter in a built-up area where the artillery isn t as effective. i think the russians have reaped the whirlwind both there and in kharkiv and are going to gut their military in there if they go. but the problem is putin, time isn t on their side. i think he feels it in his regime, pressure in the country. so they want to get in there and finish it, and they re not. it s going to get worse and worse and worse. time is not on his side. brigadier general zock, thank you for being with us. building up defenses in cities like mariupol and kyiv and intelligence suggests it might get even worse. the british ministry of defense says russian forces will likely
Because of the relationship to russian oil, some powerful european allies like germany more reluctant to apply the most crippling economic sanctions to russia. what s president bush s message going to be to those countries? well, i think for one thing, he has found a more receptacle audience in the germans and schulz, the new chancellor than people expected. schulz was reluctant at first. it seemed like some of the information the americans were presenting him about what putin was up to. and once the actions began, saw the light. immediately started talking about building military suspensions to 2%, something americans have been trying to get them to do for years there has been a more receptive audience there among the german. you re right. they have a more economic dependence on russia than certainly most of europe do. they get near half their energy from russia, and they have talked about cutting it off, but not in the same scale way the united states has. we don t rely on russian
The american ambassador can t be because she s not confirmed. and i mean, apparently due to one hold by a senator for completely unrelated matters. this hurts. same thing. sanctions have been a vital part of our support for ukraine. the special representative for sanctions not confirmed. the assistant secretary of arms control when we worry about chemical weapon, for example. the assistant secretary for arms control. the assistant secretary for aid, for international assistance. our assistant secretary for refugees. these are all critical elements of our diplomacy and our policy to support ukraine in this really international crisis of extraordinary proportions. so i just hope both as a former diplomat and an american citizen that the senate will release the senators the senator will release his hold and let these
Stockpile to essentially hold the west hostage? i think he is making nuclear threat, and a lot of it is blustering. i think in a lot of ways he is trying to remind the u.s., remind nato that he has nuclear weapons, but it s not like we need much reminding. so to some extent, this is also a way to try and compel the u.s. to hold back, and try to get to it be more cautious. we re pretty cautious so far. so i think here another thing to consider is how he is using these threats to distract from the very real conversational capabilities he is using on the ground. which we re seeing both the limits and the brutality. you had an incredible piece in foreign affairs magazine. i want to read a little bit of it for our audience. you write wry putin has turned his government into a personalist regime, a system in which he monopolizes meaningful authority. today, unlike during putin s
Do you get a sense that nato leaders will go for imposing harsher sanctions? i hope they do. i agree with her that that is a critical thing. the war militarily is evolving into a stalemate on the ground in much of ukraine, not in mariupol, which we can talk about, the horrible crimes happening there. but it s the economic pressure on hued tin. it s the isolation. it s tens of thousands of russian engineers, the heart of any kind of tech sector in russia fleeing the country. that is what s going to hurt putin the most, stopping purchases of russian energy. it s the economic lever that s got to be used. and there has to be patience and consistency. ukraine can t sort of if it becomes a stalemate, fade from the headlines and fade from being a massive focus of attention in washington and other capitals. it s just got to be relentless economic pressure on russia. ambassador, i want to ask you something that s a little