Vladimir Putin just finished signing off on a set of documents that are intended to annex four regions in Ukraine and make them part of Russia “forever.” This move comes at a rather awkward time for the Russian Federation. Large parts of that territory have now been overrun by Ukrainian forces and the Russian army is in full retreat mode across much of the region. This was such an obvious breakdown in Moscow’s messaging that even one state media reporter felt prompted to ask Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov if this wasn’t a contradiction. Peskov didn’t bat an eye and firmly declared that there is no contradiction and those regions will permanently remain part of Russia. So don’t let those images of Russian soldiers fleeing for their lives and the Ukrainian flags going up confuse you. That’s definitely still Russia and you should probably stop asking annoying questions if you know what’s good for you. (Reuters)

As President Vladimir Putin completed paperwork for the annexation of four regions of Ukraine on Wednesday, the Kremlin said there was no contradiction between Russian retreats and Putin’s vow that they would always be part of Russia.

In the biggest expansion of Russian territory in at least half a century, Putin signed laws admitting the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), the Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR), Kherson region and Zaporizhzhia region into Russia.

The conclusion of the legalities of the annexation of up to 18% of Ukrainian territory came as Russian forces battled to halt Ukrainian counter-offensives within it, especially north of Kherson and west of Luhansk.

The entire situation has taken on a bizarre, surreal tone. The Kremlin spokesperson is saying these things on camera while much of the world is watching a split screen of Russian soldiers literally running for their lives from Lymon as Ukrainian forces raise their own flag above the buildings that the Russians occupied only a few days ago. Abandoned Russian tanks are roaming the streets with Ukrainian flags flying above them. Of course, the Russian people probably aren’t allowed to watch this footage, but word is certainly getting around.

Putin continues to talk about the new conscripts that are going to replenish his ranks in eastern Ukraine, but half of them don’t even have rifles. Just this morning Ed was asking if there is any path out of this mess that Vladimir Putin could accept and still hang onto power or even his life. I think it’s a fair question, but Putin still doesn’t seem to be in the mood to pull a Richard Nixonesque move and simply “declare victory and go home.”

Signing those documents that supposedly annex 18% of Ukraine’s territory has likely sealed off that sort of escape route. How can Putin change all the maps to show his country’s newly expanded territory while Ukrainian soldiers are standing there laughing at him? He still has the nuclear option at his disposal, lest we forget that. A couple of tactical nukes detonating over Ukraine would change the entire landscape of the war while potentially pushing us closer and closer to a massive escalation.

Meanwhile, if you need further signs of the Kremlin portraying some sort of fantasy for the Russian people, just look at what they are literally leaving behind in their wake. The Russians are leaving the bodies of their dead soldiers unburied as they flee from the Ukrainian forces.

The bodies of Russian soldiers were lying in the streets of a key eastern Ukrainian city on Tuesday, evidence of a hasty retreat that marked a new military defeat for Moscow as it struggles to hang on to areas it illegally annexed last week…

Over the weekend, Russian troops pulled back from Lyman, a strategic eastern city that the Russians had used as a key logistics and transport hub, to avoid being encircled by Ukrainian forces. The city’s liberation gave Ukraine a key vantage point for pressing its offensive deeper into Russian-held territories.

Two days later, an Associated Press team reporting from the town saw at least 18 bodies of Russian soldiers still on the ground. The Ukrainian military appeared to have collected the bodies of their comrades after fierce battles for control of Lyman, but didn’t immediately remove those of the Russians.

You might read reports such as those and feel some optimism that Ukraine might actually drive the Russian army fully out of their country. We can’t rule that out entirely as a possibility, but there are still a lot of Russian conscripts on the way, even if they are poorly armed and frequently drunk. The Ukrainians are eventually going to run out of bullets. I’d love to see the war come to a rapid and decisive end, but it’s almost certainly not going to happen that cleanly.