Ian Bremmer's Quick Take: Hi everybody, Ian Bremmer here. And a happy Monday, such as it is to all of you around the world. It is, of course, day 12 of the Russian invasion in Ukraine. The third round of negotiations between the Russians and the Ukrainians on the Belarus border. All sorts of international efforts and intermediation. We've seen it from the Israelis, from the French, from, I mean, you name it. The Turks, they're talking to the Russians and the Ukrainians to hope to see if there's any possibility of a climb-down. So far, I absolutely don't see it. Feels to me that President Putin is hellbent on removing Zelensky from power and capturing Kyiv.

And it is important to recognize that the Ukrainian government has won the information war. And that means that the information that is getting out about the war is overwhelmingly being portrayed and pushed out by Ukrainian sources. That makes the Ukrainians look brave and courageous, and also makes the Ukrainian fighters look like they're pushing back the Russians to a greater degree. And frankly, that's a useful thing given the alternative, but it's also important to understand that on the ground, the Russians are indeed getting closer to encircling and taking Kyiv. They are taking a lot more territory in the south, and along the coast towards Odessa, the largest port city of Ukraine.