France 24 has just presented surveillance video from the French military that supports a scenario that a day after the French military in Mali vacated an area near a village, Wagner thugs turned up, spent time with the inhabitants, and then the next day deposited them in a shallow grave, the surveillance shows the bodies being interred, and then a short time later, the same continuous surveillance shows the Wagner thugs "discovering" the bodies, and taking images that were then presented as purported French military atrocity.
This is the same enterprise that Putin is using around East Ukraine, so it is a fairly simple argument that Putin manages a criminal enterprise that is engaged in international terrorism.
There are no "red lines" with Putin, there is only resolve to stop his murderous ways. Assuming that any response is escalatory is about as valid an argument as it was when Chamberlain met the role model for Herr Putin in Munich on 30 September 1938. There is no appeasement of a sociopath, it is merely subjugation by salami tactics.
If Putin is going to use TNW's then he is going to use them, irrespective of what the West does, as he is on the way to a defeat of arms of historical proportions. Even if he actually wins, he loses, Ukrainians will never accept the yoke of a sociopath, we have all seen the resolve that the citizens have shown, they are not going to accept Putin in any manner, and I do think they have the potential to rout Russia east of Crimea. The interesting thing will be if the residents of Crimea actually throw the flowers to the Ukrainians that Putin expected the Ukrainians to gift to his rancid horde of keggers.
Ukraine's sense of humour is as resilient as their troops in the field, and stands in start contrast to Russian contracted servicemen hating their officers. The recent events with the Russian military have the hallmarks of a widespread military mutiny against Putin and his crimnocrats. Lord, I hope so. "Marine park", good one.