Going with the theory that vengeance is best served cold, Putin ordered the downing of Prighozen's personal plane while flying from Moscow to St. Petersburg, killing him and nine other Wagner affiliates on board.
That's still twenty Russians less than Prighozen murdered in his attempted coup, so it still feels like the punishment wasn't enough. But it will have to do.
I would be mad at Putin for breaking his word and killing a man he said he would spare, but that promise was made on the basis that Prighozen would leave Russia in exile to Belarus. He broke the terms of that exile, was merrily jaunting around Russia like nothing had ever happened, despite the fact that he was a traitor who murdered thirty Russian servicemen while trying to overthrow the Constitutional order, and found out. This wasn't the first time Prighozen violated his promise and was for some odd reason still in Russia, doing whatever he felt like, acting without any guilt or shame. There's a limit to anyone's tolerance.
If Wagner wants to grab up arms and invade Russia to avenge their dead leader, I say bring it on. They're all traitors and I wouldn't mind killing all of them too. But likely they'll just piss and moan a bit and then go on with their lives. After all, without a popular figure to rally behind, the Russian people would never accept Wagner as somehow justified to wage war on the Russian army. They would see it for what it was, a group of lawless thugs meaninglessly lashing out.
All of this only reiterates the importance of all armies being national, none of them private or mercenary, for the sake of social stability. You cannot have alternative power structures. The state must have a monopoly on force. Not only should their be no private armies, there shouldn't even be any private gun ownership. All it ever leads to is rebellion and mass death. Let this be a lesson to all future governors.
Meanwhile on the war front, Ukraine has captured Robotyne after nearly three months of trying. It's an insignificant village and by now completely reduced to ruins, so congratulations. The larger problem is Ukraine has announced the mobilization of another 200,000 troops. Their well of reserves seems endless. If Russia doesn't match Ukraine's intensity they're going to lose not just Robotyne but the war. Though I'm not sure how Ukraine is going to arm all these troops now that the West no longer wishes to pay for Ukraine's army, I assume by hook or by crook Biden will somehow deliver to them everything they need. After all Ukraine paid good bribe money to Biden to get things done, and they would reveal those bribe documents if Biden ever turns his back on Ukraine, so he's stuck for the long haul.
The answer isn't to hope the willpower of their enemies slowly fades away. The answer is a massive mobilization of 20 million men, a force so large that no one could ever imagine defeating you or fighting on, so large that all of NATO combined could do nothing against you. Then invade every inch of Ukraine's borders all at once, from the tip of Belarus to naval landings south of Odessa. Overwhelm them with infinite numbers so they can't retaliate meaningfully in any direction, and collapse the entire nation in a week. This is actually what they should have done at the start of the war, but it's still the only solution. It's still the only viable way to end the war. What Russia's doing right now isn't working. They're still losing ground, Ukraine has plenty more men to mobilize so they can keep doing this forever, and the will of the people of Ukraine is completely unbowed. There's still 90% support for continuing the war over there. No one is afraid of Russia, no one thinks they'll lose, no one thinks dying is in vain, because Russia has not presented itself with the strength necessary to create those impressions. By fighting on a shoestring budget while continuously outnumbered, they've let Ukraine get uppity and think they can take Moscow. They attack Moscow and other civilian targets with impunity, because they know Russia can't do anything in response. They do not fear Russia anymore.
This is a toxic mindset Russia has created by dithering around for the last two years. At some point, if they don't want to lose the war, they need to change that mindset. They need to make Ukraine fear Russia like the Germans feared the Soviets, or the Jews the Germans. It needs to be made eminently clear that the last thing you would ever want to do in your life is cross Russia. You can't do that with 3% of your GDP and 200,000 troops along the combat line. This same outward show of weakness is what led to the Prighozen coup in the first place. Prighozen sized up Putin as weak because he saw how pathetic his war effort against Ukraine was, and he figured hey, a guy this weak probably can't even hold on to his own seat of power. Prighozen smelled weakness and caused chaos. Ukraine smells weakness and causes chaos. Next Georgia will smell weakness and cause chaos, or maybe Latvia will, or whatever. The point is the more weakness you display the more enemies will come out of the woodworks, will be self-generated from nothing, like maggots crawling out of raw meat. Only strength settles things. There must be a display of absolute, unquestionable power. Afterwards it will turn out all your neighbors are peace loving friends who don't have a single quarrel with you and actually like to send you birthday gifts. This is a world of tooth and claw, of survival of the fittest. Strength is the only thing anyone responds to. You can't win respect on the cheap. It's amazing Putin still doesn't get it.
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