[Itse]

Just to state the obvious, it's possible both are true, that Putin did visit Crimea, and also that a body double was used to stage some shots.

Some long videos on the war well worth watching.

Short version for this would be basically:
Economic warfare probably isn't bringing this war to an end any time soon, at least on it's own, and generally speaking populations in key countries still clearly support the war despite best efforts of Russia so there isn't really much movement expected there one way or the other. (Russian internal support of the war is really an open question, but since open opposition isn't popping up in significant numbers, that's kind of irrelevant.)

On the other hand there are signs that the sanctions are having a significant effect on Russia's ability to produce new materiel etc, so in that sense the sanctions are doing at least part of what they're supposed to do.


Basically the Russian winter offensive failed. They made insignificant gains on the map while wasting excessive amounts of men and materiel. On the other hand it did put a significant strain on the Ukrainian military and it's resources, and it did at least give Russia time to fortify their own defensive positions in waiting for the next Ukrainian offensive, meaning that the next Ukrainian offensive will likely end up being a lot more costly than previous ones.


Anne Applebaum has many great interviews, but the first part of this (about the first 15 min) where they talk about Ukrainian society was very interesting, and encouraging.

On the other hand, she does a good job reminding that while Poland generally speaking has been a massive supporter of Ukraine, the ruling party in Poland is is still all kind of terrible and has bad relationships with basically everybody, to the extent that they're not really even in speaking terms with some other heads of state.