ASG's Andrew Weiss spoke to NPR to discuss Russia's objectives in eastern Ukraine. 

"And at the end of the day, the problem for Vladimir Putin is he simply can't accept an independent (unintelligible) on his borders. The immediate challenge for the Ukrainians is that the Russians, by virtue of geographical proximity, by virtue of where their military forces are concentrated, have the ability to cut off Ukrainian troops that are operating in the Donbas. And if that happens, if they're encircled, that's a really dangerous predicament for the Ukrainian side."

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