It’s still a tough battle, but Ukraine’s military is still gaining ground, a bit at a time. In the U.S., some so-called progressives released a letter calling for negotiations with Putin, and after discovering that was not a very popular recommendation, the letter was withdrawn. At the same time, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is facing additional fallout because he threatened that Republicans might pull back funding for Ukraine next year if they take the majority.
What both McCarthy and the Democratic progressives did was hand Putin a “rose” of hope that the U.S. will pull its support. Support will not be pulled, but the two actions probably will cost more lives in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Putin is using Belarus to hide Russia’s war casualties. Russia has also used Belarus as its staging ground for Putin’s war.
Eliza Mackintosh, Sebastian Shukla, and Sarah-Grace Mankarious, CNN
Video report by Melissa Bell, Mark Esplin, Oscar Featherstone, and Vasco Cotovio, CNN: Inside the hospitals that concealed Russian casualties.