Scott Lucas

Very good morning to you, Pat.

Oh, I think it had an effect in terms of it exposed how rattled the Kremlin is.

Because just before the St.

Petersburg International Economic Forum, which is one of the showpieces of the year for the Kremlin, Ukraine had carried out strikes on the St.

Petersburg oil terminal, damaging it, and on a nearby naval facility, badly damaging a warship.

So Putin was supposed to use this talk on Friday to talk about how they're doing so well, even though they're not in this 51-month full-scale invasion of Ukraine, to talk about how the stories of the Russian economy are doing poorly or wrong.

And Ukraine had actually exposed that not only is it resisting the Ukrainian attacks, it's moving from resistance to a bit of strength.

But at the same time, Pat, I think it's important to emphasize that Zelensky's letter, because he knew that Putin would not accept face-to-face talks, was to seize the diplomatic initiative.

He's playing back to an audience, including the United States, saying, look, Russia's not serious about ending this invasion.

You know, you need to continue to give us support against what is basically Russia's ongoing effort to conquer us.

That's absolutely right, Pat, in that what you had before this escalation of Ukrainian attacks this year was that there were certain people in the Trump camp who supported the Kremlin's aims.

Notably amongst them was the envoy, the real estate developer Steve Witkoff.

And the worry amongst Ukraine and its defenders, especially amongst Europe, is that Ukraine

When it got to the negotiating table, the Americans would effectively tell Ukraine, that's it.

You've got to give up more territory.

You've got to keep the rest of the country weak.

What has happened now is, as you've described, as quite right is, is that the Americans have just said, oh, that's it.

We're walking out.

Not just Trump saying this, but Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, saying, well, it doesn't look like we're making any progress.

I think that actually clears the space for Ukraine and Europe now to say, look, you know, if the Americans are on the sidelines, we continue to take the initiative here militarily and diplomatically.