I happened to run across this thread and your reply - a response seems worth making:
I think the Pro-Pooty / Russia (or at least apologists and such) are also getting a bit discouraged by the Ukies recent successes: Hitting and disabling hundreds(!) of Russian tankers and other assets in the Sea of Azov and Black Sea, and, now Ukraine has torched 5 of the 10 largest “Wildberries” (sort of like Russia’s Amazon) warehouses in Russia.
We don’t see posts about “pinprick” strikes on Russia any more... It may be death by 1000 cuts, but, death (at least of this “SMO”) is still death.
I don’t pay much attention to the ups and downs of the battlefield from month to month, the emotional roller coaster of watching one side up this time and the other side up next week, my interest is in America and the long term and the long term global effects of the war for us.
The last 4.5 years has done so much for us in rejuvenating our allies and alliances, all of our and their weapon industries and militaries, moving politics and energy issues to the right in Europe and weakening Russia’s global power and influence, Ukraine managing to survive and brutalize Russia for all these years cleared out a lot of stale cobwebs in the West and the Pacific and has given the friendly parts of the world so many years to improve defense wise.