I wish the article included a map of the gains. It’s tough to visualize/understand the progress without it.
I watch the “Reporting from Ukraine” channel on YouTube. It shares a daily 3-5 minute summary of the last 48 hours and it’s honestly invaluable in keeping track.
There’s no possiblity of a negotiated peace with Russia while Putin still draws air. He annexed territory that they don’t even control, so to negotiate peace means that account less than Ukraine giving up all that territory is an unacceptable position.
Putin is just the guy in charge right now. Russia needs a serious loss, that would trigger some sort of introspection in their society.
Basically. I think there are certain cultural aspects of Russian society that are stuck over a century in the past. Unless those things get brought closer to the present, their society won’t change; we’ll see this whole thing play out again in the future. The average Russian citizen needs to see that the West doesn’t want to destroy them, that life can be better than what they currently experience, and that the world doesn’t need to be as harsh and demanding as the believe it ought to be. That’s a tall order though, so there’s no telling if that can happen in the near-future.
