Over the past few weeks several significant developments have unfolded in the War in Ukraine. The Ukrainian military launched “Operation Vivaldi,” a counteroffensive which has successfully pushed Russia’s forces back from the string of cities known as the “fortress belt” along the line of contact in Donetsk. Vivaldi is the kind of a well-planned and well-resourced operation that Ukraine needs to be able to execute in order to overcome the Russian military’s posturing and liberate territory in Eastern Ukraine. Parallel to this, Russia has initiated its winter bombing campaign aimed at civilian infrastructure targets in Ukraine. In the midst of Russia’s losses on the battlefield and increasing attacks on civilian targets, the Trump administration has proposed to ease sanctions on Russia - a surreal development amidst a potential turning point in Ukraine’s defense.
Two other events in the past weeks have received less attention but further illuminate Putin’s Russia for what it really is: elections in Russia’s Duma (parliamentary/legislative branch of government) and a plague outbreak in Irkutsk, Central Siberia - a city I stepped foot in back in 2009.
