All right, Alexander, let's do an update on what is happening in Ukraine.

Let's start with the front lines.

A collapse? Are we seeing the beginning of a collapse?

The threat, the risk of a collapse, as Politico put it.

What is happening on the front lines?

A lot of people are talking about Chasov-Yar.

I've read reports that the Russian military is on the outskirts of Chazof-Yar,

and something big is going to begin very soon.

But of course, we have other areas where a lot of fighting is taking place on the front line.

So what is the situation?

I think it's too early to talk of an outright collapse by the Ukrainian army. They're still fighting. And I mean, they're still resisting in many places. And, you know, talking about collapse

implies like, you know, something like what happened in 1991 when the US military,

after, you know, its extensive bombing campaign, began to move into Kuwait and then beyond

Kuwait into Iraq. We're not seeing anything like that for the moment. On the contrary,

Zelensky and Sirsky are still giving orders to the Ukrainian army to defend every single millimeter of ground, wherever it is, and however undefendable it is.

And there are still Ukrainian soldiers who are obeying those orders and still fighting. And, you know, we see that right across the front lines. But we are getting closer to that point when that collapse is likely

to come. We're seeing more signs every day that the Ukrainians aren't able to hold the Russians back. The Russians are

pushing forward pretty much everywhere. And they're taking more and more of the really key places,

the big fortified places that the Ukrainians, you know, established as part from these enormously intricate

fortified lines that they created in Dombas after the 2014 fighting. So, you know, Maninka fell in December, Abdefka fell in February. The Russians are now outside Pervomyski and Krasnogorovka,

which are two of these other fortified places. Pervomaiski looks like it's about to fall.

The Ukraine is still resisting there at risk of encirclement, I should add. But the Russians need to control at least 70% of it, probably more of it.

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