With a few remaining months of calm weather in Ukraine, there are talks of offensives on both sides of Russia's war. The Ukrainians are aiming to retake much of the southern, coastal areas seized by the Russians during their initial invasion. The Kremlin is talking about pushing forward with its campaign in the East, looking to control the entire Donbas region.

But armies on both sides are more than a little exhausted, in terms of available fighters and weapons. And for the Ukrainians, that's where Western aid is absolutely critical.

The Ukrainians are upping their requests for Western weapons, whether its more long-range precision missiles or fighter jets. They're reemphasizing that this is a fight for Ukraine's very survival ... as Vladimir Putin and other Russian leaders make it clear their goal is still the destruction of Ukraine as a sovereign, independent country.

Peter Mansoor is a retired U-S Army Colonel and former executive officer to General David Petraeus in Iraq. He's currently a professor of military history at THE Ohio State University. 

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Life goes on across much of Ukraine, in spite of Russia's ongoing war in the eastern and southern sections of the country. While Ukrainians attempt to adjust to life during a hostile invasion, Russia's war has undoubtedly upended just about every facet of society, including arts and culture.

Before the invasion, the Pro English Theater Group in Kyiv was putting on regular performances, building up followers and audiences and trying to make a name for themselves. When war broke out in February it put their plans on pause.

The troupe of actors took shelter in a basement theater in the capital for about a month to stay safe from bombings and attacks. They used the time to rehearse new shows and are now out of the basement, back performing again. 

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While Russia's war in Ukraine is being at least partially blamed for higher gas prices and surging inflation here in the U.S., in Europe the war could be tipping several countries into recessions. Germany and France's economies are showing signs of significant slowing, and countries across the continent are scrambling to make up for a loss of Russia oil and natural gas. In Italy, food banks are being forced to feed ever increasing numbers of people.

While Europe struggles, however, Russia somehow seems to be holding steady.

Russia's ruble is now considered one of the most valuable currencies in the world. And Russian leaders are bragging about how they've built up a fortress-like economy that can withstand harsh sanctions ... while their fossil fuel production remains at high levels.

But those rosy predictions for the Russian economy are all short-term. How will its war in Ukraine effect Russia's long-term economic prospects?

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Boris Johnson is prime minister of Great Britain ... not the president of Ukraine. So Johnson's resignation announcement today obviously shouldn't have any intense, direct impact on Ukraine or its war against Russia. However "BoJo" as the Ukrainians took to calling him, was one of the earliest and strongest supporters of Ukraine's defense against the Russian invasion. He was also the first head of state to visit Kyiv while the war still raged.

Ukraine might not have lost a leader today, but it lost a dedicated ally.

Johnson's eventual departure as prime minister of the UK could impact relations with the US to a degree, especially when it comes to Russia and Ukraine.

Even with changes in leadership and personalities, will the so-called "special relationship" between the U.S. and UK persist no matter what?

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While the first part of Russia's invasion of Ukraine ended in failure, the Russians are starting to see results from their second act: the scaled down aim of controlling all of Ukraine's eastern Donbas region is getting closer to reality for Russia.

Russia is working to secure its gains in the Donbas. Its forces have taken complete control of one of the provinces and are now focusing on one city where the mayor has urged civilians to evacuate as quickly as possible. 

If Russia succeeds in controlling the Donbas, what does it do next in Ukraine?

Both Vladimir Putin and several leading Russian politicians and generals have let on to the fact that they still have ambitions to control all of Ukraine and overthrow the government of President Volodymyr Zelensky. Even though Russia's first attempt to seize Kiev went nowhere, could they take another shot at it?

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Russia is making gains in eastern Ukraine but at what cost? 

WNBA star Brittney Griner is now asking President Biden directly to help get her out of Russia where she's been detained since February. 

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A lot of attention was paid in the early days of Russia's invasion to the plight of millions of Ukrainians who had to flea their hometowns in advance of Russian forces descending on Kyiv. But once Russia's initial offensive flopped and the focus of the war shifted to the East, the world shifted much of its focus away from Ukrainian refugees.

But there are still an estimated 5-million Ukrainians living outside of the country right now, as the war grinds on ... most of them set up temporarily scattered across Eastern Europe; there could be just as many or more who are internally displaced. Their desperate situations have not changed ... nor has their need for help.

We spoke to a woman who left Mariupol early just before Russia started to attack. Mila and her family went to Spain. If you remember, Mila's grandma was stuck in Mariupol and she and her family weren't able to contact grandma for a couple weeks. Grandma has since evacuated the city and is safe. Mila's life has taken a bit of a different path than she thought before the war. She's now in Vienna, Austria.  

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If Vladimir Putin thought his invasion of Ukraine might cower Eastern European countries and intimidate NATO to stay away from the Russian sphere of influence .... he badly miscalculated. As NATO wraps up its high-level meetings today in Madrid, they have formally invited Finland and Sweden to join the alliance ... while the Biden administration is announcing dramatically scaled-up deployments of American troops to countries like Poland and the Baltics, right on Russia's doorstep.

For the first time since the end of the Cold War there will be significant, and in many cases permanent positioning of American combat power in Eastern Europe.

Meanwhile Russia continues stepping up its missile attacks over much of Ukraine. Seemingly without the ability to win clear-cut victories even in their scaled down operations in Eastern Ukraine, Putin and Russia will seek to terrorize Ukrainians into submission.

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While Ukraine's defense of the eastern region of its country against Russia's onslaught of artillery and missiles isn't going great, there was one promising development for the beleaguered nation: Ukraine is now one step closer to becoming a member of the European Union.

EU leaders granted the country "candidate status," which it also gave to Moldova, another Eastern European country living under the thumb of Russia.  

This move is likely to anger the Russians.

But it's precisely because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine that the EU is moving so quickly to bring in these new countries. Ukraine's acceptance into the E-U is not guaranteed, and it's not without complications ... several EU member countries expressed reservations of admitting a large, war-torn country.

Meanwhile Ukraine is still aspiring to be a member of NATO.

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As Russia's war grinds on in Eastern Ukraine, we're learning a bit more about the fates of two Americans who were volunteers fighting for the Ukrainian army when they were captured by Russians.

A Kremlin spokeperson has acknowledged that the two Americans ... both military vets ... were in Russian custody. He called them "soldiers of fortune" and said the Geneva conventions and the wartime protections they provide fighters do not apply in their case, since Russia considers them mercenaries.

The two Americans were fighting with a small group of foreign soldiers and went missing in action when their platoon came under heavy fire in a village near Kharkiv, which is about 25 miles from the Russian border.

On Russian state television there have already been suggestions that the two men should be tried and executed for war crimes.

Can and would the U-S try to help free them?

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