Putin's New Problems

The first phase of the war in Ukraine was largely a failure for Russia. The second phase is not going very well either. 

After failing to capture Kyiv and oust Ukraine’s government, Vladimir Putin and his advisers turned to a less ambitious goal. They are trying to capture the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. Russian troops do control large parts of Donbas and have made some recent progress. But it has been modest, and Ukraine has also retaken some strategically important territory. 

“Russia’s Donbas offensive has certainly not been as dramatic in terms of gains as we thought it might be,” said Michael Schwirtz, a New York Times correspondent who has been covering the war from the front lines in Ukraine.

By David Leonhardt.

Full story at Yahoo News.