There's gift I've ever received has to be a bike when I was younger, a pedal bike.

It was a sort of slick little road bike and I remember it was all like it was so it was all wrapped up

but it was so obvious what it was obviously because nothing shaped like a bike and I had a little ribbon on it

and I was so guest. For that was a life changer and I'm still sort of big on cycling around my area now

so for that one change me a little.

Joy in every sip with red cups now back at Starbucks.

The words American journalists are using to describe what's happened to Russian troops in Ukraine this week.

They're not kind. Humiliating is how the New York Times put it.

The Washington Post went with embarrassing.

Slates Fred Kaplan are war stories correspondent.

He'd agree with all of those descriptors.

After all, within a matter of days, Ukraine has managed to push Russian troops to the east so aggressively

that some are said to have peddled out on bicycles leaving their tanks behind.

But Fred is not surprised by any of this.

He says we've always known Ukrainian troops could mount an offensive like this.

What's clear now is how quickly they can do it.

What I've been surprised by is the speed with which they've mounted this counteroffensive

and how far it's gone.

I mean, you know, taking more than a thousand square miles in a matter of a couple of days.

I mean, that's extraordinary by almost anything in the annals of military history.

You've called it a wild success.

I mean, it really is. I don't think even they were expecting quite this speedy success.

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