Tonight, the statehood of Ukraine will soon be in question. The statehood of Ukraine soon in question are the chilling words of Vladimir Putin. He is now predicting that Ukraine will soon be conquered by Russia, following what he calls a, quote, failed counteroffensive. Just to be clear here, Putin is saying the quiet part out loud. He is not talking about taking a region or two of Ukraine, as those who cling to calling for a negotiated settlement constantly claims all that Putin wants and what he will happily settle for, because he never was talking about that. Putin He wants what he wanted from the beginning, total domination of Ukraine, Ukraine being part of Russia and Ukraine not being a country. That's what he said today. It comes as Putin met earlier with the foreign minister of North Korea, a crucial ally that is supplying Russia with missiles to bomb Ukraine. Fred Plankin is out front with a report on how Ukraine is fighting back with American armor vehicles, which they say they desperately need more of.

As the Russian army assaults Avdiivka in Eastern Ukraine, US provided Bradley Ukrainian Infantry Fighting Vehicles are key to keeping the Ukrainians in the fight. We're ready, the crews say, and then unleash their powerful 25 millimeter gun on Russian troops and nearby tree lines, helping Ukrainian Infantry blunt an assault. The vehicle's commander's call sign is Barbie. He tells me the Bradley's are making all the difference. I doubt that we'd be talking with you doing this interview if we didn't have the Bradley's, he says. Most likely, the northern flank would have been already lost without the Bradley's. They have no time to lose the next task waiting as the Russians try to press forward.

The Ukrainians say the Bradley is now one of their most effective tools in the defense of Avdiivka.

Because of its armor and its strong cannon, it can easily defeat Russian armored vehicles. The Bradley's also own the dark, the crew says. Able to find and target Russian troops with their thermoscopes. You can see the rounds impact after they fire a salvo at Russian forces. I asked Barbi if the Russians fear the Bradley. The Russians are very afraid of the Bradley, he says. We were getting radio intercepts where we could hear their infantry shouting that the Bradley was coming, and they couldn't do anything against it. They've come a long way since Ukraine's failed counteroffensive this past summer, when Bradley's and other Western vehicles were often bogged down by minefields and Russian artillery barrages unable to unleash their firepower. Now, it often looks like this. Ukraine's 47th Mechanized Brigade provided us with these videos of what they say is Bradley's firing at Russian Infantry positions. They also provided several videos purporting to show a Bradley beating Russia's most capable main battle tank, the T-90, in a duel. The Bradley fires salvos at the Russian tank. After taking many hits, the T-90 seems to be out of control. It's turrets spinning. The vehicle then hits a tree before the Ukrainians send a drone to finish it off.

The Russian crew manages to bail. But the Ukrainians fear this could end soon if US Congress doesn't okay additional funding for military aid, and both US and Ukrainian officials have said that Ukraine is already forced to ration some ammunition.

The assistance that we provided has now ground to a halt. The attacks that the Russians are conducting are are only increasing.

Barby and his crew say so far, they have no shortages of ammo or spare parts for the Bradley's, a key weapon as they try to hold the line against a massive Russian invasion force.

You know, Erin, another reason why the Ukrainians say the Bradley is so important for them is that it also lifts the morale of frontline troops when they're fighting in the infantry. They're saying that in many cases, when troops are under a lot of pressure or under fire from the Russians, when the Bradley shows up, they understand that with its armor, it's going to be able to protect them and get them out if they need that. Of course, one of the things that Vladimir Putin has said today is that he's going to keep pressing his offensive against the Ukrainians, even calling Ukraine statehood into question. Erin.

All right, Fred, thank you very much from Nipro tonight in Eastern Ukraine. And out front now, Democratic congressman Adam Smith of Washington, the top Democrat on the Arms Services Committee. So, congressman, this issue of statehood. Putin predicting that Ukraine statehood would soon be in question as he is mocking the counteroffensive that they have put on. Do you have any doubt as to what he's saying when he says that their statehood is at risk?

No, not at all. And thank you. You summed it up perfectly at the top of this segment. That's exactly what Putin has been after from the beginning. And so many people have helped him do that by claiming that, Oh, Putin would have made peace if we had just said, Ukraine won't join NATO or any number of other things that simply aren't true. You perfectly summed up what Putin's objective is. Right now, the group that's helping Putin in that objective more than any is the Republican Party in the House and the Senate by refusing to pass the supplemental aid package that the President has proposed that would help Ukraine in this fight.

Do you have any sense that there's any possibility of a breakthrough on that?

Well, the President called a meeting at the White House yesterday with some leaders. The pressure is growing. And look, the frustration here is I know that there are Republicans who don't support Ukraine. Jd Vance, Matt Gates, they've made their arguments. I totally disagree with those arguments. I think they're disingenuous, but that's what they believe. The real problem now is all of the Republicans here who claim to support Ukraine, who claim that they don't want to support Putin, they don't want to see Putin succeed, they support Ukraine, they're going to support an aid package, and they just don't do it. Now they've tied it to a very complicated fight over the border. I would ask that the Republicans Mike Johnson, the speaker, said they would do, which is not abandon Ukraine. Speaker Johnson made that clear when he got the job. I hope he lives up to that commitment.