Liberation Without Victory

This situation could have been turned on its head right from the beginning if NATO, U.S. had taken a firm stand. When Putin first put out his demands of Ukraine never being admitted to NATO, at that time NATO/U.S. should have replied:
Ok, Ukraine will not be part of NATO and remain neutral on the CONDITIONS you (Putin/Russia) stay out of Ukraine. You, your allies stop supporting any acts of aggression against the government of Ukraine. If you (Putin/Russia/Allies) step into Ukraine, at that time Ukraine will automatically become a member and we will stomp the dog sh!t out of you. This would have back Putin in the corner. If he accepted the deal, the all was well. If he didn't then we'd know, and NATO would have had the legal reason to act.
Putin is the school yard bully and should have been treated as such. He only respects force, I have seen this type before in the Balkans. Remember when the Danes under U.N. fired up the Serbs without asking permission from NY HQ to fire. After that the Serbs left the Nordic BDE alone. Putin is the same. He knew with Biden in office nothing would be done, why do you think he waited until now. Putin is still dictating the situation. The longer it goes on the worse it gets and harder it is to get the upper hand.
But hey, what do I know, I'm just a retired SGM shoeing horses now.

Good article SSG Carlos Madden Unfortunately I agree with Zelensky that Putin is not going to stop at Eastern Ukraine. He will use that as staging area for a further push on UKraine and possibly Moldova.