| Last weekend's Wagner Group mutiny in Russia was like a shot of adrenaline right into Ukraine watchers' arms. But now that we're back to what columnist Max Boot calls the "plodding pace" of the Ukrainian counteroffensive, it's tempting to write off the slow campaign. Not yet, Max says. The less-than-lightning fighting from Ukrainian forces is still well within reasonable expectations, he writes, especially considering that Russia is working with more men, more minefields and more fortifications than last year. If the West really wants to speed up Ukraine's advance, it ought to start doing more to aid the country, Max says. He describes some of the bum equipment Ukraine has been given — as well as the top-shelf stuff it's still missing. Really "backing Ukraine to the hilt," Max writes, could make a huge difference, especially if Russia's Vladimir Putin has to withdraw Yevgeniy Prigozhin's Wagner troops. And what of ol' Yev? Surely he's somewhere deep in a Russian prison by now, right? Incredibly, no. Putin has seen fit not to prosecute his would-be-overthrower. That's not true of the 19,735 people who've been detained for criticizing Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Editorial Board points out; they "have not had the benefit of such lenience." The board goes one by one through some of Russia's foremost detained dissidents, calling for the release of each. They and the many thousand antiwar innocents should all be free, the board writes, while it's Putin who should face unsparing prosecution. |
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