Added, if the administration takes russia s note seriously but not necessarily as threatening. do we risk, provoking vladimir putin by continuing to aid ukrainian military? it doesn t take much to provoke putin in any case, don t forget he started a war, invaded in 14 and 08 and so on and bellicose for the last years he has been in business, so nothing that we do or say is going to provoke him anymore than he has already provoked himself in attacking civilians and bombarding cities and so on. he is single-minded in the achievement of his tactical and strategic objectives and that includes securing donbas, and securing the ukrainian southern coast on the black sea. so that russia can control the black sea. and nothing we do or say is going to change him from doing