All is not quiet on the Ukrainian front.

Vladimir Putin's regime has stepped up efforts to give Russian passports to Ukrainians living in separatist-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine. Moscow is also reportedly planning to spend $12 billion in occupied separatist enclaves in Donetsk and Luhansk. And Russia's ally, Belarus, is moving military hardware to its border with Ukraine including possibly Russian-made S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems.

Ukraine, meanwhile, has taken steps to curb the political influence of its oligarchs - potentially closing off a key vector of Russian malign influence.

It's been one month since Zelensky got his coveted White House meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden and secured additional defense assistance. But how do things really look on the ground in a country that has been at war for its very existence for more than seven years?

On this week's Power Vertical Podcast, host Brian Whitmore speaks to Volodymyr Dubovyk, an associate professor in the Faculty of International Relations at Mechnikov National University in Odessa and director of its Center for International Studies.