Apparently the Ukrainian army can still hold Sievierodonetsk. That is astonishing and encouraging. While Putin has yesterday compared himself to Tsar Peter the Great, absolutely confirming that naked imperial violence is the basic function of his political brain, we now need further military support for Kyiv.
In doing so, Putin should have compared himself to Catherine the Great, who fought against the Ottoman Empire in what is now southern Ukraine. But Putin is not even capable of that tiny "elegance" of comparing himself to a woman. Putin is such a deeply sad figure on so many levels. Moreover his thirst for blood is even more repulsive than that of these former imperial rulers, since Putin lives (yes, hard to believe) in the 21st century. And he's hardly aware of it himself. He is the greatest European zombie of our time, the jinn of imperial violence on European soil, well, the Great Ghoul of Europe.