Putin will never stop being a war criminal until the day he dies. If he takes over all of Ukraine, he will move to Moldova then Georgia then Latvia then Estonia and so on.
The moment this war ends, the Russian Federation will collapse. People forget but Russia has collapsed twice in the last century by doing the same things it's doing now.
It collapsed the first time when the out of touch tyrannical Tsarist government dragged the country into a needless war (WWI) while the country was going through a crises. The country collapsed and formed the Soviet Union.
It collapsed a second time when the out of touch tyrannical communist government dragged the country into a needless war (Soviet invasion of Afghanistan) while the country was going through a crises. The country collapsed and formed the Russian Federation.
Now the same thing is happening. The country has an out touch tyrannical dictator that dragged the country into a needless war during a time of crises. Once the war is over the country will revolt and collapse once again.
Zelensky is a bit like a CEO presenting his company's prospects. He was talking like this two years ago, too.
I personally think he's not wrong. Just - until Kremlin gang's members and their families are being caught and jailed\deported all over the globe, or at least in NATO countries, this is all bullshit. Well, maybe after failing in Ukraine they'll attack some smaller and weaker country, just to show themselves they can defeat someone. And maybe they'll try again.
In any case - yes, that leadership keeps Russia weak, inefficient, dependent, but as everyone can see, it's also capable of destruction on scale too big to allow. So maybe some optimism should be applied and the goal be for Russia's regime to change and for it to have a democracy that may make its potential useful for everyone around. The "keeping it weak" approach, after all, has already led to Putin.
Our operation Spider's Web… even though they [the Russians – ed.] are furious, they understand everything – that if there are cases like the one involving 20,000 rockets [that the US had planned to send to Ukraine but redirected to the Middle East – ed.], then we'll rely on our own strength… We don't want the war to continue, but we'll fight for ourselves if that is the only way out.
We're very close. We need strong support from the United States. The US needs unity with Europe and still needs to put pressure on Putin. He doesn't want to end the war, but he can end the war under pressure from partners. In my opinion, that gives us a chance. And this doesn't sound pessimistic at all – I'm talking about reality."
If Operation Spiders' Web is more than just an isolated attack on Russia's air bases and is continuing to strike deep into Russian soil, then this has serious potential to finally bring Putin to the negotiating table.
Other than that, I think this will be a bloody war of attrition that Zelenskyy has no chance of winning.
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