> Medicine advises praying for miracles

No it doesn't, that's bullshit. Please quote an academic book or scientific paper on medicine that "advises praying for miracles".

There was amply opportunity at this time to give strong military & economic support to Ukraine.

... and now claim that the new gov was too weak to be worthy of support? That's not supported by facts either, they had strong leaders that did not back down on their demands.

Feb 27, VP Biden told the interim gov they had the full support of the US. Kerry and EU leaders visited a few days later.

The new interim government of course! The one that removed the police from Kyiv, freed political prisoners, and restored the pro-EU constitution.

So you've backed down on your original claim that Obama had to support Yanukovych to help Ukraine...

I didn't. Everything I wrote is supported by the linked Wikipedia pages.

Obama definitely had time from the 22nd, *after Yanukovych had fled*, to strongly support the interim government against Russian aggression. This refutes your premise.

Perhaps it was too late to prevent the occupation of Crimea, but it might have prevented the repeat in Donbas later, in April.

Your premise that Obama's only option was to give support to Yanukovych is false. The invasion started *after* he had fled.

It was not until Feb 27 when Russian SOF seized strategic sites across Crimea, installed a pro-Russian local government, that the annexation began.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian...

I'd say Obama had time from the 22nd to strongly support the interim government to nip this in the bud.

To be exact, Yanukovych and his ministers fled Kyiv in the evening of Feb 21. The next day, parliament removed him from office and installed an interim government, who restored the constitution, freed political prisoners etc. He fled to Moscow on that day (22nd).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euromai...

Indeed. vatniksoup.com/en/soups/173/

... and in the 2019 presidential election, Zelensky (who is Jewish) won with 75%. Hard to imagine that level of support if Ukraine had a "big neo-nazi problem" as you claim.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Uk...

You clearly don't know anything about Ukraine, you're just parroting Kremlin propaganda.

"In the 2019 parliamentary elections, the [far-right] Svoboda bloc received 2.15% of the vote, below the 5% electoral threshold"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far-rig...

Compare that to some European countries where far-right parties now get ~20% of the vote.

B is a myth. Vodka is primarily made from grain in both Russia and Ukraine these days.
liptouchfoods.com/what-russian...

Almost all countries have neo-Nazis unfortunately. It's actually a relatively small problem in Ukraine though, it's a far bigger problem in the neighboring countries.

It's Kremlin propaganda that Ukraine is full of neo-Nazis. It's a lie to justify their invasion.

Meanwhile, Ukraine grows economically & militarily stronger. It now has a fleet of Western fighter jets, 2 AWACS planes, Western tanks, IFVs & artillery.

They strike deep inside Russia on a daily basis, using their own long-range drones and missiles:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpB0...

It's a war of attrition. A small advance on the map is irrelevant when the cost is catastrophic losses (350,000 KIA+WIA in 2025 alone so far).
bsky.app/profile/euro...

Russia is at the brink of economic & military collapse. Real inflation >20%, 30% oil refinery capacity destroyed, fuel shortages...

Fwiw, I've been following this war daily since 2022 and I've never been more confident that Russia will be defeated.

The pace of the Russian advance is literally much slower than a snail's pace:
phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/weekend-up...

Europe should revoke all Russian visas, ban all trade, and close all borders with Russia/Belarus. It should've been done already in 2022.

Russia only understands force. They see the appeasement you suggest as a signal of weakness. It encourages them to continue their war on Europe.