nick: michael kofman, i know you will be watching. and we will be watching as well. k you very much. michael: thanks for having me on your program. judy: and for more now on russia's invasion of the u.s. and european reaction, we get three views. retired lieutenant general doug lute had a 35-year career in the u.s. army and served on the white house national security council staff during the george w. bush and obama administrations. he also served as u.s. ambassador to nato during the obama administration. andrew weiss served in the george h.w. bush and clinton administrations on the national security council staff and the state department's policy planning staff. he's now vice president for studies at the carnegie endowment for international peace. that's a think tank. and angela stent worked in the state departme during the clinton administration and served as a top u.s. intelligence officer on russia during the george w. bush administration. she is now a professor at georgetown university. welcome, all three of you, back to the "newshour." the first thing i want to

host: michael kofman joining us. if you want to ask questions about news you've heard about russia and ukraine and the role of europe, call us at (202) 748-8001 republicans, (202) 748-8000 democrats. independents (202) 748-8002. if you want to text us your thoughts this morning you can do so at (202) 748-8003. the lead editorial in "the washington post" talks about the minsk arrangement and they highlight in part -- the doctrine signed by russia and ukraine calls for resuming control over the borders between russia and donbass which has been wiped out. ukraine insists its borders to be restored for the election and russia manipulating the vote through its separatist proxies say no. it goes on from there, but can you talk about the minsk arrangement, what it is and it's importance as far as you see when it comes to this discussion? guest: as a result of the fighting in the winter of 2015, the two sides signed the minsk agreement, a cease-fire agreement was basically signed at gunpoint. ukraine was not successful so it

michael kofman, welcome back to the "newshour." we have got a map that shows how ukraine is really surrounded from the north in belarus, from the northeast, from the southeast, and from the south in crimea. what's your assessment of the russian buildup right now? michael: the russian buildup is entering a fairly advanced stage. you have seen troops arrive and actually grab prepositioned equipment. there is a sizable russian deployment in belarus just north of the ukrainian capital, kyiv. there are a lot of russian troops both northeast and east of ukraine. and there's a fairly sizable russian deployment in crimea. plus, there are additional ships along the way, amphibious assault ships that are bringing even more troops to reinforce some of the russian forces in crimea. so what you're beginning to see are kind of what look like the final stages of a very sizable military buildup, a military that is positioning itself to be able to conduct a large-scale military operation. nick: and last time we spoke, about a month ago on this show

and that also opens the question of western ukraine which michael kofman raised. if they want to do the same, they are going to have to take western ukraine as well and there is bound to be a large amount of resistance there too. >> woodruff: andrew weiss, how do you see what putin is trying todo here, and i guess i'm asking, is it realistic given the difficulty of controlling a country, what, over 60 million people, if he says that is not his intention? >> i believe that vladimir putin means business in ukraine. and i think he is perfectly happy with a destroyed ukraine, that starts to me apart, in which pieces either float back to russia or as we saw in 2014 where basically government disappears overnight. and in the end, i think he either expects to sthow magically there is a silent majority in ukraine that wants to be ruled by russia. i think he is profoundly mistaken on that count. but he has talked about that publicly. on the other hand i think he also is a rather ruthless person who would be happy to pass the parcel to the west and basically take a broken u

host: michael kofman joining us.you want to ask questions about news you've heard about russia and ukraine and the role of europe, call us at (202) 748-8001 republicans, (202) 748-8000 democrats. independents (202) 748-8002. you can text us your thoughts at (202) 748-8003. the lead editorial in "the washington post" talks about the minsk arrangement and they highlight in part -- the doctrine signed by russia and ukraine calls for resuming control over the borders between russia and -- which has been wiped out. ukraine insists its borders to be restored for the election and russia manipulating the vote through proxies says no. it goes on from there, but can you talk about the minsk arrangement, what it is and it's importance as far as you see when it comes to this discussion? guest: as a result of the fighting in the winter of 2015, the two sides, the minsk agreement, a cease-fire agreement was basically signed at gunpoint. ukraine was not successful so it was imposed on ukraine and deeply unfavorable. in that agreeme