I think that Russia's illegal Ukraine invasion has finally started to sputter, stall, and is possibly being reversed. I see one of three options coming for Putin: 1) engage in meaningful peace negotiations that are beneficial to both sides; 2) attack Nato to distract pissed off Russian crowd; 3) open up second Russian invasion from Belarus.
I caught the tail end of an interview on NPR, Some professor specializing in Russian affairs from one of the ivy league universities. Can't find it at their website. I thought it was on All Things Considered.
Anyways, he claims Russian media and some oligarchs are publicly painting a picture of Russia ending this war by claiming victory now.
That they fought the whole of NATO (sound familiar) and withstood the severest of sanctions the west could throw at them and still managed to liberate 20% of Ukraine since February 2022. And that is a Russian victory! And with this, the Kremlin can commission a statue of Vladimir the Great bare-chested on horseback and forget the 1.5 million Russian casualties.
Oh course, Ukraine might not be on board with all this and with the backing of the EU, may be in a position to tell Trump so. Ukraine is holding a pretty good hand right now.
My bold is Barbos' narrative going forward.