He did it again this week, under the guise of emphasizing NATO’s unity against Putin’s atrocity-packed invasion. The alliance, the prez declared, has been “sending an unmistakable message to Putin: He will never succeed in dominating and occupying all of Ukraine.”

All of Ukraine, Biden specified — clearly implying that the allies will accept Russia conquering part of the country.

Putin will surely see that as reason to think he can indeed grab the energy-rich Donbas region, plus the area around already-leveled Mariupol — which is exactly what bloody Vlad this week implicitly set as his current aim, now that the Ukrainians have defeated his bid to capture the whole nation.