 So the good news is that French President Emmanuel Macron still has a direct line of communication between him and Vladimir Putin The bad news however is that after a 90-minute phone call between the two Macron is convinced that Vladimir Putin is not going to stop his aggressive invasion anytime soon and There's a really chilling quote from the article that we're gonna read where Macron essentially says after speaking with Putin He thinks the worst is yet to come Yeah, really really bleak So as Jake Epstein of insider explains French President Emmanuel Macron thinks the worst is yet to come in Ukraine After talking with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday according to multiple reports a senior French official said Macron's warning came after the two leaders spoke for 90 minutes Which did not yield any diplomatic progress the Washington Post reported Putin also told Macron that Russia's goals in Ukraine would be Fulfilled and that the war was going according to plan Reuters reported citing a statement issued by the Kremlin the statement read It was confirmed that first of all we are talking about the demilitarization and neutral status of Ukraine So that a threat to the Russian Federation will never emanate from its territory Russia on Wednesday captured its first major city Kersen after nearly a week of failure to break Ukrainian resistance Western officials have warned that Russia's lack of anticipated progress in Ukraine So far may lead to Putin's decision to stage a more aggressive approach Both Russia and Ukraine said the second round of negotiations between the two sides is slated to take place on Thursday So what I gather from this is that Macron was hoping to see some level of Rationale or common sense from Vladimir Putin Expecting him maybe to understand that the situation isn't going as easily as he anticipated and to perhaps withdraw But Putin is saying no we are pressing on and we're gonna finish what we started here And that's really horrifying because that absolutely implies that things are going to get worse So I think that Macron is right to deduce that the worst is yet to come because as This invasion drags out and Putin gets more desperate and frustrated He will resort to more aggressive tactics In fact, we just learned that the International Criminal Court is launching an investigation into Russian war crimes in Ukraine this week So, you know, if you're Vladimir Putin and we assume Some level of rationality to him the cost to his economy has already been Massive the Russian economy is in shambles So he's already paid a pretty high toll and that price will increase as time goes on But for him to just withdraw at this point already seeing the economy in shambles He probably feels like look I've got nothing left to lose So I might as well see this through to the end now what is his end goal probably to take over Ukraine entirely I think he's been pretty clear about that So it's horrifying because that means that this war is going to get more bloody. This means that he's not going to back down So there's a lot to think about here. How long is this going to go on? Is there any cost economically that he is willing to not pay? I mean will oligarchs eventually exert so much pressure on him that he has no choice It's really difficult to say but currently at least at this time. He's not backing down Now this could be him bluffing and posturing and making it seem as if you know He is never gonna back down, but perhaps he has an intent to back down us at a certain point I'm not sure perhaps he's trying to break the morale of the Ukrainian resistance either way, you know After having a 90-minute conversation with him and you're convinced the worst is yet to come That's pretty chilling and I believe Emmanuel Macron when he says this it's good that he does have this direct line of communication I'm glad that ongoing diplomatic talks are taking place, but it doesn't seem like This is going to change the trajectory. It seems like Vladimir Putin is hell bent on taking over Ukraine entirely no matter the cost in terms of human life or Money so it's it's horrifying when you see a bloodthirsty leader who just doesn't care about the loss of human life, but This is where we're at and you know The best that I could do is update you on the situation But this story definitely is a little bit depressing to hear because after damaging his own economy You think that there'd be at least some reservations perhaps he won't express it But you think that there'd be some reservations, but it seems as if The take away from Macron is that he doesn't believe that Putin is gonna back down when Putin says he's not backing down Macron believes him and I'm inclined to believe what Macron is saying here based on his phone call so it's it's horrifying but It's something that we have to pace ourselves for because this is likely going to be a Long drawn-out battle and maybe that's not what Putin initially planned for but regardless He isn't going to leave anytime soon at least based on where he's at right now. So yeah