This is CBS Eye on the World with John Batchler. Here's John Batchler.

Ukraine conflict. I welcome my colleague, Colonel Jeff McCawson, the United States Army

retired CBS News, visiting Professor Dickinson College as well as CEO of Diamond Six Leadership

and Strategy to the Battlefront. The closing weeks of the counteroffensive, small teams

using many, many drones over the battlefield to go forward one trench at a time would be

the reporting. And the question is, what does this look like for these next weeks as the

weather closes in? Jeff, a very good evening to you. The small teams, the reporting,

suggest our successful patient and the battles for individual villages go on for weeks.

Is that what we can expect during the weather months between now and next spring's offensive?

Good evening to you. Good evening to you, John. Well, it certainly could be what we could

expect. Of course, this is all depending on how severe the winter is. But one reason

why this is occurring right now is, of course, the Russians have established these defensive

belts, which have been clonically called the Serovican line to halt the Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Now, the Ukrainians have been meeting in some success, particularly in the South and

Zaparicia province, in and around a couple of towns, or a key, and even towards a time

called Tuck Mach. Now, those are important for two reasons. One, it may indicate that

they've been able to penetrate the first line of that Russian defensive belt. And number

two, it puts you on the road to Melitipol. And if you take a look at the map, but Southern

Ukraine, you'll discover if you control Melitipol, you control the road networks and basically

have cut off Crimea pretty much from being supported from Russia proper by land, at least.

So that becomes more important. If those small groups in our sort of artillery are able

to penetrate those lines, then you can exploit that. And that's where your armor and mechanize

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