New tonight, Ukrainian forces are pushing even deeper into Russian territo capturing two more settlements in Russia's Kursk region. According to the Russia, the Ukrainian president. We're also learning new details about a deadly Russian air strik on a hotel in eastern Ukraine. That strike killed an employee from Reuters News Agency and lef several others injured. The State Department confirms an American citizen is among those injured. CNN global affairs analyst Kimbe Dozier joins me now. Kimberly, what is your reaction to Ukraine's advances into Russian territory? Well, it's kind of remarkable that the Russian response has been so paltry that not only they not pushing the Ukrainians but they can't seem to stop their advances. And that has me curious because generally, look, this is like a chess match or a game of go where one opponent does somethin and then the other opponent resp The Russians are often very slow to respond on the battlefield, but it has me wondering if Putin has looked at this situation and said Kursk could be the thing to use to motivate the Russian p in that when you talk to a number of Russian specialists in the U. government, they say Putin hasn't been serious about winning the Ukrainian war. If serious, he would mobilize his entire pop He would draft more soldiers to make up for his losses on the battlefield. He hasn't done that. Well, he probably hasn't done that because popular opinion would rise up against him unless Russians felt endangered and the Kursk attack is making t feel very threatened. A new report from Politico says that Kiev is using its battle ground success to pressure the U.S. to lift some weapons restriction Now, for now, the White House still isn't ready to do that, but is it possible they'll change their mind at this late stage in the Biden Biden presidency? I don't think so, especially in the Ukrainian forces are already making progress on the ground in Kursk. And there is still the fear that if the Ukrainians hit somet or something that is very important to Vladim that he would step up attacks and go back to the nuclear threa that he was making before. So I don't think you're going to that in this presidency in the few months left. Now, what happens if Ukraine con to make advances into Russian te Where does this go? Well, the challenge is depending on how much territory you take, you've got to put manpower in th and logistics to hold that terri And that means in a in a sort of intensive war where you have so many Ukrainian engaged on the eastern front against Russian forces the I mean, how do you cover all of your bas At some point, you have to pick and choose. And if too many forces get sent that could weaken their defense along the eastern front. And then surely Russia will take advantage of that. What is Zelensky's endgame here with this push into We really don't know. Beyond what he said out loud is that they want to create a buffer zon There were thousands of attacks that were being launched from th territory into Ukraine, enabling Russian advances. So to have some sort of buffer, if they can keep it, could be very valuable to headin some of those attacks in the fut But this must add to the pressur on Putin, right? This is in his on his home turf. If it were a free and fair media in Russia and people could how angry they were at being driven out of their homes by Ukrainian perhaps what you hear from Russia watchers is all along the borders with Ukraine, the populations that are exposed to war are unhappy with his policies. But the closer you get to Moscow Putin's in control of that media and he tells the narrative he wants out there. And that narrative is Sea Naito has backed Ukraine and Ukr An authoritarian government is now pushing into our territor This is what I warned about all And of course, we have to keep f as a matter of fact. I'm going to have to draft more Russian sons and daughters to beat back the Ukrainians. Kim Dozier, thank you.