In the coming week, Ukraine and Russia enter year three of their wide-scale war.

U.S. Secretary of State Blinken makes his first official visit to Brazil and Argentina,

and the WTO holds an important ministerial conference amid gathering trade gloom.

It's February 22nd, 2024, in time for the world next week.

I'm Bob McMahon.

And I'm Carly Ann Robbins.

Well, Carla, we're going to start in Ukraine because this Saturday is two years since Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine. It's also around this time 10 years ago that Russia illegally annexed

Crimea. Now, Ukraine has sought to both reclaim that territory and parts of its eastern territory,

as well as winning the war outright. But things are looking

pretty grim at this point. And we should know you just spoke about this on our affiliate podcast,

the President's Inbox, with Jim Lindsay and Miriam Elder. But can you talk to us at this point,

Carla, as we look at sort of the sides posturing, making statements about aid and sanctions and so forth.

What are you watching as we reach this point in the war?

So, Bob, the Ukrainians have shown remarkable resilience, and it's really important to remember

that this war for them, while we've been focused on it just for two years, for them it really

has been going on for a

decade. And they have taken out a large part of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, so it's not completely

grim. But the news on the ground, you know, as we start year three of this phase of the war,

it's really pretty awful. There are a growing number of analysts who are beginning to ask how

much longer

Ukraine can hold on, especially if the U.S. Congress fails to pass more aid, and that's really

critical. We hold a lot of their fate in our hands. Last week, the Russians captured

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