Russia Hits a Wall, Lost Their Birds, and Say: “Hey, It’s All Okay”

We’ve had some rapid developments in the past few weeks after months of trading empty fields back and forth. The Russian assault on Avdiivka continues but has made very little progress at great cost. Ukraine has acquired ATACMS and used them to great effect. The Black Sea is clearly not under Russian control, and Ukraine has freedom of navigation in the western portions of the sea. Ukraine has crossed the Dnepr river again and has perhaps established a crossing point, and Putin and Lavrov are on a tour of Asia.