To stop Putin a massive counter-attack is now needed

The ony way Putin is going to back down is if the Ukrainian military launch a massive counter-attack to recover towns and cities currently under Russian control before Moscow imposes an irreversible annexation. It seems to have begun with a huge effort by Ukraine to get Kherson back in the south, a city that fell to the Russians early in the war. Seizing back Kherson would be a tactical and strategic blow to Putin, and therefore must succeed. Before Kherson was taken and occupied the Ukrainian authorities in the city seemed oddly reluctant to destroy bridges on the approach to the city which would have hindered the Russian advance. Now we know that this was deliberate because the security chiefs responsible for that lack of action have been fired by President Zelensky. It seems they were pro-Russia. Poor Zelensky! Now it's different, the Ukrainian military are setting about destroying bridges that link Russians in the city to their logistics links. That's the only and best way of trapping the Russian troops in the city. If Kherson is liberated, Putin will be furious and could mount some revenge attack. But with Ukraine now getting more of the deadly US HIMARS multiple-launch rockets systems - announced on Friday - it will start to give Putin a real headache. Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said the Kremlin wanted to take more territory. So it would be a great moment for the Kyiv government and for the people of Ukraine if Moscow achieved exactly the opposite.