it was because of a ukrainian victory. michael, take me inside. we have covered this as a new phase and i feel like it is a new phase and a new phase has begun in ukraine including saber rattling and this more targeted strike on the weapons factory outside of kyiv foreshadowing of brutality which is interesting as a psychological tool of war because the brutality of bucha is revealed to the world. how s the administration adjusting to the new phases? the administration is just stepping it up and pumping more weapons into ukraine. i think that the letter from the state department received this week puts a fascinating frame on
please stay safer. thank you. joining us is michael mcfaul and the new york times diplomatic correspondent michael crowly is back. ambassador mcfaul, let me ask you to pick up on what is the ripple effect. let me ask you something that i was thinking of. by bombing the factory where the neptune missiles are made the russians are confirming the russian lie and the missiles sink the flagship. right? that s a great point. that is an excellent point. i sometimes wonder why anybody ever believes anything a russian government official says at all. that we had to confirm. it is great to con firm what it was but hearing anything from them about what s happening on the battlefield we should treat it as part of the disinformation tactics. we know why it sank why not because of a russian mistake.
incredibly smart about strategic communications. i m with michael. u.s. government officials briefed the group. zelenskyy is forcing the issue. we are talking about it right now and eventually the biden administration will have to have an answer for them. former ambassador mcfaul, a great anecdote about a zoom bomb from president zelenskyy. makes the points better than any of us could. michael crowley, thank you. grateful to both of you. we know both from reporting and the january 6 committee members that mark meadows texted with a whole lot of people all day between the election and the insurrection at the u.s. capitol. the latest phone exchange reveals how far two republican lawmakers went in pushing trump s chief of staff to overturn the 2020 presidential election. plus another community trying to
can assess through open sources. if not the free world needs to provide ukrainians with the quality and quality of weapons to prevail in donbas. a loss will produce the opposite. there are others with knowledge of the dynamic in the region and the stakes saying the same thing, that right now, ambassador taylor saying ukraine needs to win. tell me what that looks like and how short we are of doing for them what you call for in your piece. first, two things. the red line that michael is talking about is an essential question and in my assessment it is not about attacking nato. it is not about a nuclear war with us. they rolled out to make that clear for us. it is all about whether or not he might use a tactical nuclear weapon or not in ukraine.