JRL NEWSWATCH: “Putin’s Next Move in Ukraine; Mobilize, Retreat, or Something in Between?” – Foreign Affairs

“For the first time in the war … Putin must contend with the serious prospect of losing …. [T]he near rout of Russian soldiers in the Kharkiv region … and … rapid reconquest by Ukrainian forces … clearly showed … Ukraine was on top … destroy[ing] the illusion of Russian invincibility. … Suddenly, Western leaders and strategists have been able to contemplate Ukraine gaining the upper hand  …. Ukraine’s successes have opened a solid path to constructing a Ukraine too strong for Russia to attack in the future. … The unresolved question is how Putin will attempt to manage Russia’s bleak position, with what military purpose and with what political message. To give up, he would have to reinvent himself politically. To mobilize he would have to reinvent the Russia he has been creating since coming to power in 2000 ….. Putin thought he would push Zelensky’s Ukraine into the abyss. He may in fact have done this to his own regime.”

Click here for: “Putin’s Next Move in Ukraine; Mobilize, Retreat, or Something in Between?” – Foreign Affairs/ Liana Fix, Michael Kimmage