Andrei Raevsky Did A Good Write-Up...

... on current situation. Here is excerpt. Read the whole thing at The Saker's blog. 

During the first phase of the SMO, the Russians sent in a comparatively small force, which did great in combat against the Ukronazis, but which did not hold ground (which you never do in economy of force and maneuver warfare), resulting into absolutely awful optics including:

The perception that Russia promises to come and protect the people she liberated only to then abandon them.

The perception that the Russian retreated because of Ukronazi military successes.

The fact that neither of these statements is quite true does not help as they are “close enough” to the truth to sound convincing.  As a result, the Russian side completely lost control of the narrative, for a while even inside Russia! 

Pay attention to Andrei's point, it is like a day ago with somebody posting a Syrian Girl's tweet about S-300. She is a lovely and courageous lady but she still lives with this delusion that Russia somehow is responsible for protecting Syrian let alone Hezbollah's assets. And for years now many still don't get it that the only thing Russians did was to integrate Syrian AD with Russia's massive early warning capability based on this very same S-300 and S-400 sensors, who are in Syria--read my lips--to defend Russian assets at Kheimim air base and at the port of Tartus. Period! Nothing more, nothing less. Not to mention Russia having separate arrangements with Israel. But many still don't get it.