What can Putin do after Russia retreats in Ukraine?

What now for Putin? After Russian retreat, the Kremlin has few good options in Ukraine

Photo Credit: aljazeera.com

Russian President Vladimir Putin may be at his most vulnerable since launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine 200 days ago.

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Washington, Europe and even Moscow now wonder what Putin's plan might be to regain the initiative that has been slipping away from him with every new update on the battlefield.

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Could the Kremlin order full military mobilization, press hard on its energy war, or face drastic measures like a strategic nuclear strike?

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"It's really difficult when you look at the war from his position," said Michael Kimmage, who focused on the Ukraine-Russia issue at the State Department during the Obama administration.

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"In a way, the whole concept of war is off, misleading, and it's a huge burden on Putin because things have gotten so bad in the last week."

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In the short term, this means stabilizing Russian defensive lines in the eastern industrial region of Donbass, made up of the twin provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk.

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With increasing calls for military escalation, pro-Kremlin commentators on state TV and nationalist military bloggers have come closer than ever to condemning Putin.

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Since the beginning of the war, concerns for a nuclear confrontation between Russia and NATO have diminished, but analysts suggested a small-scale tactical assault against Ukraine might still happen.

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A move like that would probably yield only modest military benefits while generating geopolitical fallout that the Kremlin might not be able to manage.

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