Ukraine Opinion Update

My relatively ignorant uninformed take: Darkening prospects for the survival of Ukraine. Slow, grinding, accelerating Russian progress all along the front. The Ukrainians have done amazingly well in slowing the advance. The Ukrainians have mounted a combination of competent coup d’oeil with agile underground supply and reinforcement to make it a costly slog for the Russian Army. Also, the Ukrainians have been aided by Western intelligence and weaponry. Nevertheless, the Russians are not deterred, the direction of things has not changed in months, and, in the absence of some big fat Black Swan, things won’t turn around in the coming months. If the Ukrainian government doesn’t tap out soon, leftover Ukraine will not have a port on the Black Sea. And the French? They cannot save Odessa. All the French President can hope to do is further insult the bear in order to look less half-mannish. If the Ukrainians want to keep Odessa, they will have to accept semi-sovereign status as a disarmed, neutral buffer state.