When should Ukraine commit more forces to a perhaps desperate stand to hold ground it will likely lose? And when is it the difficult but correct choice to preserve the force and pull back to the next defensive line? This is the real, agonizing strategic dilemma shaping the war, now highlighted in the fight for Pokrovsk.

Distinguished strategist Lawrence Freedman joins Ryan at a cafe in Vilnius, where they were both speaking at a conference, to dissect this critical question. They also sort through how this relates to each side's theory of victory and the shifting realities of the battlefield.

The American president has a ... different approach to strategy than his predecessors. To make sense of the extent American strategy can work and is working at the moment, Ryan was joined by Frank Hoffman, Justin Logan (Cato Institute), and Rebecca Friedman Lissner (Council on Foreign Relations). Join for the brilliant minds. Stay for the spicy takes on American statecraft in Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and the Indo-Pacific.