A great deal of focus by the international media recently has been on the recent Ukrainian peace talks in Switzerland, as well as the back-and-forth public comments coming out of Moscow and Kyiv. Will Vladimir Putin be open to some sort of ceasefire? Will Zelensky agree to concede some territory to bring the fighting to an end? While all of this has been going on, however, far less attention has been paid to the actual fighting in the eastern part of the country. Recent reports confirm that Russia has not only failed to slow its attacks, but they have been "obliterating" towns in the vicinity of Kharkiv, Avdiivka, Voychansk, and beyond. The Russians have also changed their attack strategy in a way that makes it nearly impossible for Ukraine to stop the attacks or launch a counteroffensive. (Associated Press)

The first shock wave shattered aisles stacked almost to the ceiling with home improvement products. The next Russian bomb streaked down like a comet seconds later, unleashing flames that left the megastore an ashen shell.

A third bomb failed to detonate when it landed behind the Epicenter shopping complex in Kharkiv. Investigators hope it will help them trace the supply chain for the latest generation of retrofitted Russian “glide bombs” that are laying waste to eastern Ukraine. The Soviet-era bombs are adapted on the cheap with imported electronics that allow distant Russian warplanes to launch them at Ukraine.

Other cities that have been devastated by the weapons include Avdiivka, Chasiv Yar and Vovchansk, and Russia has nearly unlimited supplies of the bombs, which are dispatched from airfields just across the border that Ukraine has not been able to hit.

Putin clearly seems to be sending a message with this new wave of attacks. These are not military targets that the Russians are taking out. They're hitting shopping centers, parking garages, and apartment complexes. Russia is letting the Ukrainians know that if they don't pull out, the Russian army will make these places uninhabitable and crush their infrastructure. Kharkiv has been hotly contested for the past year, but now the blistering attacks are spreading out into more suburban areas in the eastern part of the country. One local resident told reporters that Russia was turning his town into "a ghost city."

The secret to Russia's burgeoning success appears to be found in the use of older, Soviet-era bombs and missiles that were previously not seen as being very effective. But the Russians are now retrofitting them for use as sophisticated glide bombs using foreign electronic systems supplied by some of their new friends in the axis of evil. These modifications give the weapons a much greater range and accuracy. They are firing them from airfields located across the Russian border and Ukraine has been unable to mount any sort of attack on the source.

Russia is currently launching an average of more than 3,000 bombs per month in this fashion and it doesn't appear as if they will be running out any time soon. The Ukrainian forces have no good answer to this strategy and casualties have been mounting. Is it any wonder that Putin hasn't shown much interest in a peace agreement brokered by Western nations? He wants Ukraine to cede the eastern provinces that Russia claims to have annexed. If they won't leave voluntarily and recognize Russia's claims, Putin seems to be clearly demonstrating that he's willing to simply destroy those provinces and kill everyone who is there. 

I've mentioned this here recently, but it bears repeating. Ukraine doesn't seem to be making any progress toward a meaningful ceasefire agreement because they have no leverage. Russia already controls the eastern provinces for all intents and purposes. If Zelensky agreed to pull his troops out of the area and formally cede those territories, it's likely (though not certain) that Putin would be good to his word and shut down the war. The Ukrainians have fought valiantly and held out for far longer than I might have originally anticipated. But this has turned into a war of attrition and it's Ukraine that paying the vast majority of the price. It may be time to pull the plug on this and get Zelensky to concede that half a loaf is indeed better than none.