pcr shows me the error of my ways. i had been thinking that the putin was doing quite well until i saw him leaving this war drag on with little obvious effort or responses to triggers; 

 

Some years ago Putin declared that “Russia will never fight again on her own territory.”  Putin has been fighting a war on Russian territory for 5 years.

Why does Russia tolerate a president and a political party who intentionally deny Russia victory, instead spreading the hardship of war over the country and enabling a minor conflict to develop into a war with the West?

As I predicted, Putin’s ever-widening war continues to widen while Putin continues to pretend that he is only fighting a limited engagement in Donbas..

The New York Times reports that

“Ukraine struck Moscow yesterday with a furious drone attack that appeared to be the largest of its kind in the more than four years since the war began. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine was clear about its intent. “If Ukraine burns, then your Moscow will burn as well,” he said. The strikes destroyed an oil refinery, filling the skies with greasy, toxic smoke. They shuttered four airports. They closed down part of the highway that rings the city, which is home to 13 million people.

“The objective, my colleagues Paul Sonne and Nataliya Vasilyeva said, was to bring the war home for Russians who live far from the front lines of eastern Ukraine. The attack “seemed likely to feed fears among Russians that the Kremlin’s ability to isolate society from the impacts of the war was sharply eroding,” they wrote.

“The effects are mounting. Ukrainian drone attacks on other refineries have led to lines and rationing at gas stations across Russia. The war has started to take its toll on the Russian economy, too. It has now run longer than World War I.........more..........