This is CBS. I on the World. I'm John Baxter. Bill Rajo, Senior Fellow Foundation for Defense of Democracies, joins me as my colleague and co-host, and we're very pleased to welcome our man in Eurasia, John Hardy, watching the conflict between Russia and Ukraine between the Russian Federation and its allies, sometimes called the Axis, and NATO.

Right now we're looking at the battlefield, very closely at the battlefield, because John these last weeks has guided us to understand these small reports of Russians making advances,

and what that means for Ukrainians not only now, but through the winter ahead, into a new

administration.

John, a very good evening to you.

Thank you for joining us.

I've been reading about new villages named in the Danetsk or Luhansk Oblast these last

days. And I did see a video made by the Russians. I'm presuming a drone shot it because it was an

overhead shot, raising a Russian flag on what looked to be a largely destroyed building.

What are the Russians claiming to have achieved since we last talk?

Good evening to you, John.

Hey, John.

Hey, Bill.

Thanks for having me back on the show.

So, yeah, the Russians have continued to push from multiple different directions to try to surround the city of Karakava.

This is in the southern part of Dernetsk Oblast in eastern Ukraine.

So right now the Russians are trying to push, as I said, from multiple directions.

The most significant in terms of Russian advances has been the southern area, kind of near Vuladar, which the Russians captured in

late September, early October. From there, kind of northwest of Vuladar, the Russians have

breached the Ukrainian fortified line northwest of that city and sort of pushing toward Krakova

to try to sever the highway running

into Krakow from the west.

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