The West can’t proceed to faux {that a} negotiated peace is feasible in Ukraine. Not after Russia killed 57 civilians with a ballistic missile on the Kramatorsk practice station. Any settlement might solely legitimize Russia’s management of Ukrainian land. That’s unacceptable. Ukraine have to be victorious, and any instrument of peace ought to doc this reality.
In conflict, geography determines techniques. Combating in city areas conveyed essential benefits to Ukrainian forces. Small, extremely cellular teams, armed with man-portable antitank and antiaircraft weapons, inflicted grievous losses on Russia. Disadvantaged of his conquest of Kyiv, Vladimir Putin appears poised to combat two battles. One is within the Donbas area in japanese Ukraine; the opposite seeks to determine a everlasting land bridge to Crimea and thus deny Ukraine entry to the Sea of Azov. The Donbas consists of the energy-rich Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. Mr. Putin would like to get his fingers on their pure fuel and coal reserves. Each areas are predominantly Russian-speaking and comprise self-described breakaway republics.
