The current operation on Russian territory is interesting because it suits the generals of both sides perfectly.
The Ukrainians can be happy because they finally have success in the Western media. They are attacking Russian territory, they have prisoners (in the first phase they encountered inexperienced basic service soldiers), they are showing captured cities, in short they are on a roll. “The Ukrainians have changed the public narrative that they are on the defensive,” a Western expert said on Czech Seznam, and he got it exactly right.
The Russians can be satisfied because they finally have the last elite Ukrainian troops in a zone where they have not had time to establish fortifications, where they cannot hide and where they can be easily destroyed. I don’t know what losses the Russians have, but the amount of Western equipment destroyed in the last few days is impressive.
Isn’t that great? Everyone is getting exactly what is important to them.
It’s not great from the point of view of the soldiers who are dying over there. Nor is it from the point of view of the people whose houses are in ruins.
I don’t think there has to be a deliberate agreement by the generals on both sides. But it suits them both. That there are articles in the western media about a raging Putin is not something we need to waste time on.