In Ukraine, Putin is running out of time and options

Russian President Vladimir Putin's special military operation in Ukraine was supposed to succeed within a week or two. It has now dragged on for 1,659 days, and the Russian machine only has so much patience.

Last week The Economist suggested that Putin believes that ending the war short of success "would put him physically at risk."

"They will hang me," he is said to have confessed to cronies earlier in the war.

He is running out of time for winning, and out of options. But he does still have options.