Pressuring ukraine to cede territory and accept the loss would have saved hundreds of thousands of lives and Ukraine itself. As it stands it looks more like suicide to continue fighting.

> Entering the war with troops would be escalatory, anyone who claims to know the result of that hypothetical escalation is a liar.

Anyone who claims there is an alternative path to victory is a liar.

I won't ever forgive the west for throwing ukraine under the bus to express their anxiety about russia, fully knowing that ukraine has no hope without full military commitment.

> Winning is Putin backing down, being deposed, or doing the swan lake thing.

Russia will just replace him with someone on the right wing of russian politics. That's actually a worse scenario in every way.

> That's not a terrible outcome if the alternative is Russia actually following through with their mad man nonsense.

They're following through regardless.

The only victory path is to collapse russia. We have no way to do that and there are no domestic pressures indicating this will happen any time soon. And in every way Russia is hurting, Ukraine is suffering harder.