War in Ukraine
Samuel Ramani, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, wrote in The Spectator that Russia appears to have given up on its "its regime-change mission in Kyiv" and is instead aiming to achieve "a de facto partition of Ukraine." Ramani also argues, however, that Putin might not be satisfied with that outcome. "Putin's legacy to his core supporters could hinge on achieving the seemingly impossible: the subjugation of Ukraine," he writes. "As Putin fears backlash from hawks in his orbit more than anti-war demonstrators, a renewed Russian assault on Ukraine's major cities remains a possibility."
