“Russia’s successes on the front lines in Ukraine are a big reason why Vladimir Putin isn’t yet ready to sign up to President Trump’s peace efforts. Some of his neighbors fear the success of the war machine now driving its economy means he never will,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“In the early stages of the war, the Russian president put the country on a footing for a long conflict.
Putin retooled the economy to churn out record numbers of tanks and howitzers, while using sizable signing bonuses of up to a year’s salary to raise a massive army. At one point, more than a thousand recruits were signing up each day to fight.”