Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Is this just a fanciful idea in your head or is there any actual real world evidence anywhere?

The standard line in any deal is Putin back to where he was pre February and the US wants Russia weakened so they'll be in no great rush on this at all. There will no lifting of sanctions this year, especially as the world adapts to them being in place and continues to find solutions to the issues they cause. As has been stated since Day 1 Russia is finished as a country until they stop outdoing North Korea in news and preferably when Putin and his clique have gone.

April 29th so lots of training since then.

"US Army Europe and Africa Command will organize this training in coordination with the government of the Federal Republic of Germany, and we're grateful, of course, for Germany's continued support," he said.

Germany was the only one of three training sites in Europe and outside Ukraine that he would disclose. The training, he added, includes the radar systems, artillery, and armored vehicles that are part of the latest rounds of US security assistance to Ukraine.

T-80BV tanks are being loaded into echelons in Naro-Fominsk in Moscow region

-From Russia with love

Because Severodonetsk is a strategic river crossing point, which is on the Russian side of the river .... The bridges have been blown or are under Russian control, and the river isn't easily crossed with temporary measures....

Holding it, means trying to do so while at a huge logistical handicap due to terrain, where the situation could turn into another Marioupul .... it makes sense to tactically retreat if they haven't the man power in place to take on hold the remaining bridge crossings, and hold off the Russian advance with artillery and stop them from crossing the river in large numbers

This touches on one of my points in my long winded post above. While the Ukrainians like to sound bullish they are not announcing everything they are planning to the world. And why would they. Talk bullish but say nothing of what you're planning on doing.

Op-sec also seems to be adhered to a little more vigilantly on their side than the Russians too IMO. It leaves me hopeful but only hopeful. I'm not convinced anything other than a long drawn out war is what we're facing into but still hopeful I'm wrong.

Overall, things look far better for Ukraine's territorial integrity than they did at the start of the war, considering that the popular prediction at the time was that Kyiv would fall within a couple of weeks of Russia's full-on incursion. In the Donbas, specifically, though, yes, it's currently quite a grim picture, but it's a hell of a slow grind west for the Russians.

I think the problem is the types of weapons they are getting. Stingers and javelins were well and good when the battle was more stretched and they needed mobility. And even the M777 can only do so much when they are out ranged by missiles and MLRS. The inability or lack of will to supply the weapons they need to turn this fight around is what is leading to the lists wet see now.

A counterattack could be just what the Russians are expecting at some stage. They may be looking to take as much of the Donbas as possible as the Summer rolls on before switching to a defensive dug-in strategy to weather whatever Ukraine can throw back in return. There's also the continuing worry about what's happening to ordinary Ukrainians stuck behind Russian lines, essentially at the mercy of their new (hopefully temporary) overlords.

Any treaty would have to come with full access to the NATO defense pact for Ukraine. Only then will the rest of Ukraine be safe.

He makes the valid point that Putin has already seized Crimea and parts of the Donbass and now three more regions. This rather invalidates the claims by some in the West that he just needs to be given more and more Ukrainian territory in order to get him to back off. Why would he stop with just eastern Ukraine? He clearly views the entire country (including Kyiv) as being 'Russian'.

Yes. I found this part very interesting - most people just go with the flow-

Why would Russia have any interest in peace talks?

Could they come up with even one good reason to be serious about peace talks.

There isn't one. It would be of no utility to their aims.