The Russian leader is convinced that Moscow’s battlefield superiority is growing, and that Ukraine’s defenses may collapse in the coming months, according to people close to the Kremlin.

For a fleeting moment, Ukraine’s conflict may have come full circle. In the past 48 hours, US President Donald Trump has perhaps said his most forcefully direct words yet on arming Ukraine. And in the same period,

The truth is, he believed me 10%,' Trump said of the threat he made to Putin that he would bomb Moscow if Russia invaded Ukraine.