In the last 24 hours, Ukrainian forces claim to have inflicted serious damage on Russian forces. The claim is that 13,800 Russian soldiers have been killed in just three weeks, and posted a video of their attack on Russian helicopters after their takeover of an airbase in Kherson.
With crippling sanctions essentially paralyzing the Russian economy, and Chinese reticence to back Putin through financial or military assistance, the prospect of Russia taking and holding the country without losing a significant portion of its professional armed forces in the effort, and destabilizing Putin’s regime, seemed increasingly remote.
Poland has even pushed in their brazen meeting in Kiev for a peacekeeping force within cities that will retaliate if fired on, essentially providing an ostensibly defensive unit that would prevent Russia from being able to attack civilian areas with impunity, and could monitor for chemical or biological weapon attacks.
Such responses have meant that Russian state media is now suggesting that a peace deal is close, despite Ukraine offering no concessions other than a definitional change. Despite Ukraine’s accession to NATO being a near impossibility, Ukraine’s explicit acceptance of this, while being allowed to maintain a full military force, is now accepted as “neutrality” for the country. They’ve suggested that such terms, even though representing no substantial concession from Ukraine, might be enough to force Putin to abandon his failed invasion of Ukraine.
There have been indications that Russia has been stepping up its attacks on civilian areas in an effort to degrade the will of Ukraine’s resistance out of sheer frustration with their massive losses and lack of progress, but to no avail. Russia no doubt hopes that any peace agreement will lead to the reversal of sanctions, despite its shattering of the international order.
Sources:
https://www.rt.com/russia/552054-ukraine-peace-deal-russia/
Ukraine SPRAVDI