squeeze. will these measures have putin feeling the squeeze? i mean, there s two things, part of that question. one, there are also sanctions aimed at putin himself and that s really difficult to bring pressure on him because of the, you know so little is known about where his wealth is hidden. it s hard to reach. but i think that there s some skepticism also that putting pressure on oligarchs will have a tremendous impact on putin. his inner circle now is really just a very small group of former kgb, former military aides who are in his ear, who have any meaningful access to him, and you have heard the oligarchs say this. why are you coming after me? it s crazy to think that i have any influence with this guy. if i could stop this war, i would. i m not in position to do that. i think that broader, i mean, these are the important thing to keep in mind is that sanctioning oligarchs, of course, is just part of a huge, much, much bigger sanctions picture going after russian banks, g
as i said, bright line between nato membership and nato partners or non-members. and i don t believe that president putin wants to pick a fight with nato where he would be not only conventionally overmatched, but he would launch swoop a very risky escalatory process that could lead all the way to the nuclear rell. realm. and i think he knows he must avoid that. neil: ambassador, do you think generals around him, military aides, you get these anecdotal reports that they think something has snapped in him, he s not listening to advice, he s not even hearing it. publicly he goes after his top advisers in a form that the world can see, he s acting very differently. and i m wondering these early frustrations, we ve separately got a wall street journal report that ukrainian forces have repelled a russian attack on kyiv. now, again, i should say that
militarized islands in the south china sea. the question is this will be one of the biggest if he goes ahead with. this a few indications of perhaps of a little bit of change in the state media apparatus with china. the state media apparatus tweeting out an account of civilians killed, waiting on a bread line in ukraine and also the ambassador to ukraine saying we will respect the path chosen by ukrainians because this is the sovereign right of every nation, and saying they will continue to trade with them. edward long, ambassador daniel freed, thank you both. thank you. coming up, what we know about the military situation on the ground as russian forces ramp up a tax on kyiv and with the reports of sinking morale can mean for the russian invasion. the latest round of military aides in u.s. can tell us how the wars being fought. that is next. the wars being fought. that is next that is next including nasal congestion, with powerful claritin d, so you can breathe better. feel th