place. which means he has options available to him right now. and without getting into any predictions, we have to be ready in case this happens very, very soon. nato is a defensive alliance. and we do not seek confrontation. we will take all necessary measures to defend and protect all allies. allies. ukraine which is not a member of nato but an important ally, just announced it would begin arming 130,000 maly shall forces. the u.s. has delivered a written response to russia s demands. the next weeks will determine whether putin opts for diplomacy or war with ukraine which promises to be very bloody and many at the pentagon believe will drag russia into a quagmirier. sandra: thank you. earlier as i mentioned i asked john kirby about the situation on the ukraine border and he