FORCES HAD AN UNDERWATER HOUTHI DRONE AND MILITANT GROUP ATTACKED A BRITISH CARGO SHIP. RUSSIA HAS SEIZED CONTROL OF THE EASTERN UKRAINIAN TOWN OF AVDIIVKA. IT WAS KEY TO KEEPING RUSSIAN FORCES AT BAY AS GROUND FORCES PUSHED WEST, WITHDRAWING TROOPS FROM SATURDAY AS THEY WARNED UKRAINIAN TROOPS HAVE BEEN RATIONING SUPPLIES AND AMMUNITION, THE FALL OF AVDIIVKA COMES AS WORLD LEADERS ATTENDED THE MUNICH SECURITY CONFERENCE, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY MET WITH KAMALA HARRIS WHO PLEDGE SUPPORT DESPITE CONGRESS FAILING TO APPROVE ADDITIONAL MILITARY AID. >> I'M THANKFUL FOR THE SUPPORT AND LEADERSHIP OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WHO HELPED THE -- UNITE THE WORLD. >> BECAUSE OF OUR COLLECTIVE STRENGTH, THIS WAR HAS BEEN AN UTTER FAILURE FOR PUTIN, IT IS IN THE STRATEGIC INTEREST OF THE UNITED STATES TO CONTINUE OUR SUPPORT. >> FOR MORE, CBS NEWS REPORTER OLIVIA GAZZA'S JOINS US, LET'S START WITH AVDIIVKA, WHAT DOES THE FALL OF THAT MEETING -- MEAN IN THIS CONFLICT? >> THAT'S THE $60 BILLION QUESTION, AS WE HAVE HEARD FROM A NUMBER OF WESTERN LEADERS FROM PRESIDENT BIDEN TO THE NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL, THIS LOSS WHICH UKRAINIAN FORCES HAD BEEN HOLDING SINCE 2014 WHEN RUSSIA FIRST WENT INTO UKRAINE, IT DOES UNFORTUNATELY ILLUSTRATE THE EFFECT OF THIS LONG DELAY IN THE FLOW OF AID, THAT CONGRESSIONAL INACTION HAS MEANT UKRAINIAN FORCES WERE OUTGUNNED, THEY WERE OUTMANNED AND THEY WERE ULTIMATELY FORCED TO WITHDRAW, RUSSIA'S VICTORY WAS RATHER PYRRHIC. THEY LOST OVER 47,000 TROOPS WHICH IF THAT IS ACCURATE WOULD MEAN THEY SAW GREATER TOLL THAN SOVIETS NOTCHED OVER A DECADE OF FIGHTING IN AFGHANISTAN, IT IS NONETHELESS A PAINFULLY SYMBOLIC IF NOT A STRATEGIC LOW AND IT RISKS EMBOLDENING A VLADIMIR PUTIN WHO WE NO AWAITED GOING INTO THIS CONFLICT THAT WESTERN ATTENTION AND SUPPORT GOING BEFORE HIS OWN FORCES DID. >> SPEAKING OF THE WEST AND THE MIND-SET OF THE WEST, YOU WERE AT THE MUNICH SECURITY CONFERENCE IN THE HOTEL, WHERE THE FOREIGN MINISTER AND DEFENSE MINISTER OF ALL EUROPEAN NATIONS GET TOGETHER AND ANNEXED ORDINARY GATHERING, WHAT WERE THE TOPICS OF CONVERSATION DURING THE TIME YOU WERE THERE? >> SURE, WE KNEW UKRAINIAN WESTERN SUPPORT WERE ALWAYS GOING TO BE AMONG THE TOP ISSUES GIVEN HOW LONG AND GLARING THIS IN PASSING CONGRESS HAD BEEN, THAT WAS REALLY THRUST INTO THE FOREFRONT FROM THE SUDDEN NEWS OF ALEXEI NAVALNY'S DEATH WHICH BROKE ON FRIDAY MORNING, AND ALTERED THE ENTIRE TONE AND TENOR OF THIS MASSIVE GLOBAL GATHERING OF DIPLOMATS OF DEFENSE CHIEFS, THERE WAS A PALPABLE REACTION WHEN THE NEWS EMERGED ABOUT HIS DEATH, YOU COULD SEE IT SPREAD FROM PEOPLE'S PHONES TO THEIR FACES, I WAS IN A PACKED HALLWAY GETTING INTO A ROOM WITH SECRETARY BLINKEN WHEN THAT HAPPENED, IT DOMINATED CONVERSATIONS, A CHANGE SPEECHES THAT GLOBAL LEADERS MADE THROUGHOUT THE WEEKEND, LAWMAKERS THAT I SPOKE WITH IN MUNICH SAID UKRAINE WAS BY FAR WHAT THEY WERE ASKED ABOUT MORE THAN GAZA, MORE THAN RUSSIAN NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN SPACE, EVEN MORE THAN THE UPCOMING U.S. ELECTION DESPITE REMARKS WE HEARD ABOUT NATO BY OMER PRESIDENT TRUMP, THE FEELING BEING OF COURSE THIS IS EUROPE'S NEIGHBORHOOD AND AGAIN, RUSSIA APPEARS TO BE DANGEROUSLY CLOSE TO GAINING MOMENTUM. >> IN ONE FORM OR ANOTHER, THEY'RE WORRIED ABOUT WHETHER THE U.S. IS A RELIABLE ALLY, THAT'S NEVER BEEN MORE CENTERSTAGE THAN RIGHT NOW, THAT LEADS TO A CONVERSATION OF IT IS NOT THE U.S., HOW DOES EUROPE PREPARE TO DEFEND ITSELF? HOW MUCH WAS THAT A PART OF THE CONVERSATION, WHETHER THE U.S. IS NOT TO BE DEPENDED ON. >> THAT WAS WIDELY INTIMATED IF NOT SET OUT RIGHT, OLAV SCHULTZ, THE GERMAN CHANCELLOR SPENT HIS TIME AT THE PODIUM SAYING EUROPEAN NATIONS ON ONLY NEEDED TO UP DEFENSE SPENDING FOR NATO BUT ALSO TO STRENGTHEN EUROPEAN SECURITY SPECIFICALLY. THEY USED TO BE AN ALMOST TABOO SUGGESTION, NOW YOU SEE PERSISTENT CALLS FROM THE FRENCH, THE POLLS AMID GROWING APPARENT ANXIETY THE ARTICLE FIVE NO MATTER HOW MANY RHETORICAL ASSURANCES MAY NOT BE AS IRONCLAD AS IT HAS HISTORICALLY BEEN, THE U.S. WITH ITS ACTION ON UKRAINE COUPLED WITH THIS PROSPECT OF A NEW MORE ISOLATIONIST AMERICAN ADMINISTRATION OF THERE IS A CHANGE IN 2024 WAS VERY MUCH TOP OF MIND. >> ONE OF THE THINGS THAT SOMETIMES GETS DISCUSSED IS PUNDITRY FROM EUROPE ABOUT U.S. POLITICS, YOU HAVE AT LEAST TWO QUESTIONS, WHAT ARE THE CHANCES FOR DONALD TRUMP AND ALSO WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, WAS THAT MUCH IN CONVERSATION THERE? >> ABSOLUTELY AS WAS SORT OF THE FAITH OF UKRAINE WHICH YOU HAVE SEEN GOING OUT AND SECURING AS MANY BILATERAL SECURITY PACKS AS IT CAN WHILE THE UNITED STATES IS DITHERING, IT IS DOING THAT IN ORDER TO SEND THAT MESSAGE TO RUSSIA THAT IT IS GOING TO ENJOY WESTERN SUPPORT OVER THE LONG TERM NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS IN THE U.S. IN 2024 OR EVEN BEYOND THAT, THESE ARE MILITARY AID AGREEMENTS TRYING TO STRIKE WITH THE LIKES OF GERMANY, UK, AND FRANCE FOR A COURSE OF 10 YEARS OR MORE, AS WE HAVE SAID, THE COLD HARD FACT IS THAT THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR THE VOLUME AND SPEED WITH WHICH THE U.S. HAS BEEN MILITARY SUPPORTING KYIV, WHILE THESE BILATERAL PACKS THAT UKRAINE IS SEEKING OUT OUR MORE THAN SYMBOLISM, THEY ARE NOT LIKE ELIGIBLE -- NEGLIGIBLE,
