Two years into the war, Ukraine has suffered a significant setback with the fall of Avdiivka. However, neither this defeat nor the failure of its counter-offensive has led to calls for peace, either from its rulers or western allies

Prigozin, the founder of the Wagner paramilitary company, along with several top officials including its co-founder Dmitry Utkin and deputy head Valery Chekalov, were on board a flight that crashed in Russia’s Tver region

It wouldn’t have escaped the attention of Russian intelligence analysts that Prigozhin’s ranting and ravings from Donetsk from last autumn and winter began originally on the operational aspects of the Bakhmut war front in Donetsk oblast, but incrementally began acquiring political overtones. The ‘known known’ here is that the Russian intelligence was under instructions to be in ‘listening mode’

If the Anglo-Saxon alliance keeps climbing the escalation ladder, the Russian campaign may well expand the operation to the entire region east of the Dnieper River. The Russians are in this war for the long haul and the ball is in the American court