PAY ATTENTION: Putin protegé and former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev detailed the situations when Russia would use a nuclear weapon. It sounds terrifying, but former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul reads that in a relatively positive light. Interview — Volodymyr Zelenskyy on why Ukraine must defeat Putin. In a sit-down with The Economist, he split NATO members into four groups, including the U.S. and U.K. as the major powers most supportive of Ukraine, while saying that Germany and France are "afraid of Russia. And that's it." (Read Matthew Karnitschnig on 'Putin's useful German idiots'.) Compare Zelenskyy's groupings with POLITICO's: Global Insider mapped 35 countries on their sanctions, words, weapons and willingness to end their economic dependencies on Russia WHAT TO MAKE OF BIDEN WANTING PUTIN GONE? Putin murderously pursues regime change in Kyiv. He even pursued regime change in the U.S. 2016 election — confirmed by U.S. government inquiries by the FBI and Senate. But a Western leader can't say it's time for him to go? Of course President Joe Biden thinks that. Those nine words — "For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power" — are what every democracy supporter has been shouting for a month now. But is there real danger, as some posited over the weekend, that this unscripted utterance will provoke the Kremlin? Sure, Putin might use those words to claim the U.S. wants to threaten Russia's very existence and therefore justify the use of chemical or nuclear weapons. But he invents reasons to harm people all the time, and he alone is the reason there is war in Europe. Trying to please a tyrant is not Biden's job. POLITICO chief Brussels correspondent David Herszenhorn puts it this way: "Of course Biden wasn't announcing a plan to carry out forcible regime change. He won't do a no-fly zone. Won't put US soldiers in Ukraine to fight. That gaffe (flash of honesty?) may be the bravest thing he has said or done since war started." His biggest criticism of the comments: the White House "won't even stand by it." The key strategic check: The job of Western leaders is to do the opposite of what Putin wants, and in this case Putin wants the West to spend its time fighting among itself rather than directing its arms and capital at him. DOING THE SPLITS … Macron and Putin: French President Emmanuel Macron criticized Biden for calling Putin "a butcher," telling local television: "I would not use that kind of language. If a ceasefire is to be brokered, we must not escalate — neither through words nor actions." Really? Increasing lethal aid (escalation, by another name) is how Ukraine will keep Putin from sacking Kyiv and push him into a diplomatic agreement. It's also compatible with the NATO goal of not directly engaging Putin, which is why it has been NATO's main tactic in the first month of the war. Putin and Russian diaspora diverge: Thousands of people, mostly Russian, protested in Prague against Putin's invasion . Their symbol: Russian flags minus the blood-red stripe, which has emerged as a symbol against the war. h/t Alfons López Tena Poland and Hungary diverge: Warsaw isn't wasting the Ukraine crisis. The Polish government is using its generosity to Ukrainian refugees to urge Brussels to unlock funding that had been blocked due to repeated rule of law violations by Warsaw, and to woo back its Western critics, including by emphasizing how much more cooperative it is compared to Hungary on Russia relations. NEGOTIATIONS IS UKRAINE THE NEW KOREA? OR FINLAND? Maybe it's both, or maybe it's neither. Remember: Russia may be an invading force, but it's also been losing ground for a week. Russian military officials have briefed that they are now focused on splitting Ukraine into two: achieving a "complete liberation" of the eastern Donbas region. Zelenskyy says a deal may include handing over some or all of Donbas to Russia. He's already ready to discuss neutrality (ditching NATO aspirations), while keeping his eyes on the EU membership prize, which was also a prime driver of Putin's response to Ukraine's 2014 Maidan revolution. FRONT LINES REALITY CHECK: What's happening to Ukraine isn't unusual for Russia's enemies, it's Moscow's standard playbook. Russia pounded Grozny into oblivion in the 1990s, just as it helped Bashar Assad to do in Aleppo this century. OUTNUMBERED: Why are so many Russian troops being killed in Ukraine? SPYING — RISE IN RUSSIAN SPYING ACTIVITY ALARMS EUROPEAN CAPITALS: "Austria is a 'veritable aircraft carrier' of covert Russian activity," one official told Financial Times. SANCTIONS — U.S. BUMPS UP REWARDS TO $10 MILLION: Rewards for Justice keep rising. If you have information on Russian government cyber actor Evgeny Viktorovich Gladkikh, you're in line for $10 million.
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