An expert on Ukraine suggests Vladimir Putin's increasingly defensive posture indicates growing fear and paranoia, stemming from the shifting military balance and potential elite discontent.

Mark Owen is pleased to welcome Melinda Haring, expert on Ukraine, non-resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center and Senior Advisor to Razom Advocacy's advisory board. According to Haring, the psychological and military balance between Russia and Ukraine is shifting. Her central argument, in the lead-up to Russia’s May 9 Victory Day celebrations, is that the Kremlin’s increasingly defensive posture reveals a profound shift in the war: “Vladimir Putin is finally afraid.”