Russian lawmakers authorize Putin to use military force outside the country

[hazard]

I mean, how is it not in doubt?  Numerical superiority means fuck-all if your forces have the morale of anti-government conscripts, which Russian forces kind of do.  Ukraine has sky-high morale at this point, while Russia seems to be failing to get supplies to its soldiers under a week in.  I get that no plan survives contact with the enemy, but if the plan was "Ukraine folds like Kevin Spacey's career", then it was never going to survive the first day, and it really shows.

Ukraine still has an air force.  They still have air defense, despite the supposed superiority of the Russian air force.  The Ghost of Kyiv has shot down like ten Russian fighters, making him the first flying ace of the 21st century.

I get that some of this is wishful thinking, but not all of it is.  War is so inherently unpredictable that we continue to have wars.

Numerical superiority is everything when those anti government conscripts still fight the battles. Mind, the situation as it has been developing over this week is substantially different from over the weekend, and supply shortages look to be chronic and critical, rather than incidental and inconvenient, so the situation may turn around. On the other hand, Russia still has a massive artillery park and a history of giving no shits about the civilian cost of leveling everything. How and how well the Russian artillery gets used in the next few days will say a lot about Russia's chances in this war, but for now the weight of fire still looks to lean their way, quite heavily.

That said, yes, recent developments indicate that Russia is in an even worse position than its initially poor performance suggested. Ukraine is still severely overmatched, but they might force Russia back to the borders prior to this invasion.