Putin will want a victory parade in Kyiv

Nearly a year after Putin sent 150,000 troops to invade Ukraine, the Russian autocratic ex-KGB leader clearly still has one dream in mind which is to see his successful army celebrating victory in the streets of Kyiv. Commentators are suggesting that he will be happy to grab the Donbas region and then possibly look for a settlement to end the war. But I don't see Putin backing down in any way. He wants that victory parade in Kyiv, he needs that victory parade in Kyiv. Anything less will look like partial defeat. So even if the Russian troops do manage to seize the whole of the Donbas region in the east, Putin will want more. He wants Ukraine begging for mercy and he has the extreme right in Russia on his side. So I am convinced that when he handed command of the invasion forces to General Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the general staff, his orders would have been simply, "finish the job, destroy everything if necessary". The extraordinary thing is that despite 12 months of setbacks on the battlefield, Putin remains totally in charge in the Kremlin. Despite hopes in the West of a putsch against him, I don't see that happening. He has surrounded himself with all his former KGB mates and there is no realistic opposition to his leadership nor to his war. For these reasons the war will continue until Putin believes he can claim victory. Joe Biden's mantra has always been that the US and Nato will support Ukraine for as long as it takes. John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman, repeated this today in a TV interview. But it's the same for Putin. He will continue trying to destroy Ukraine for as long as it takes. President Macron's remark at the Munich security conference that Putin should not be humiliated by total defeat and that at some point there must be a deal to end the war without crushing Russia may have sounded realistic six to nine months ago. But not any longer. It has all gone too far for face-saving deals. Putin doesn't want a face-saving deal, he wants Ukraine and Zelensky to be forced to surrender. In Putin's mind, to accept Macron's argument would be to accept humiliation. That's never going to happen. I assume Biden and co realise this.