Just a few months ago, it seemed all but certain that Ukraine was slowly  but inexorably losing its war against the Russian invasion.

Russia, it was widely believed, was going to overwhelm Ukraine’s defenders with its crew advantage — and with Vladimir Putin’s ruthless willingness to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of Russian lives to his goal of capturing, at the very least, the Donbas region of Eastern Ukraine. Those of us who cautioned against counting out Ukraine were often accused of wishful thinking.

Now, the momentum has changed dramatically — as even Donald Trump appears to recognize in his surprisingly positive meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the NATO summit.

Putin seems to be the only person still insisting that Russian troops in Eastern Ukraine are relentlessly moving forward. Even Russian war-hawk bloggers, in an environment in which posts perceived as subversive to the war effort may lead to fines and prison time,........

© Newsday