All right, Alexander, let's talk about the defense ministry meeting that took place a couple of days ago.

In attendance was the Russian defense minister, Sergei Shougu, and Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Shoygu said some very interesting things, came out with some very interesting numbers, the casualty numbers, as well as talking

about NATO's involvement in the conflict in Ukraine. And then we have the statements from Russian

President Putin. And the one statement that caught a lot of people's attention was the statement

he made about the West of Ukraine. The history of the area,

to be fair, Putin talked about the history of the area post-World War II. He talked about

Poland's connection to this land. He talked about Hungary and Romania's connection to this land,

the actions of Stalin, and basically it led up to Putin saying that Russia, effectively said Russia isn't interested in the west of Ukraine. Should these countries decide to press their claims for for territory in

Ukraine.

But Russia will pursue its own interests and its interests in lands which are historically

connected to Russia.

That's pretty much what he said. Everyone took it

as a statement from Putin, green lighting the west of Ukraine to be incorporated by, say, Poland,

Hungary, Romania, whatever. That's basically how people saw it. What was your take on these comments from Putin?

Can I say overall, it was one of the most fascinating speeches he's given. I mean, he's

been giving one speech after another this year. All of them have been very interesting,

but this was also a particularly interesting speech in all sorts of ways. And I just want

to touch on one particular thing.

Firstly, I mean, Putin made it completely clear, crystal clear, I mean, unambiguously clear,

that there is no possibility that Russia will ever agree to Ukraine entering NATO. I mean,

remember, we were hearing reading a few days ago, about a week ago,

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