It's an odd time to say "turn the tide against Ukraine", when in the last few months:<p>1) Ukraine has established a beachhead on the left bank of the Dnipro river, the largest geographic feature in the country<p>2) Russia's navy has been expelled from the western half of the Black Sea, by a nation with essentially no conventional navy<p>3) In the last week, Russia's air superiority has apparently ended, with three separate incidents where their most modern fighter-bombers were shot down.<p>The lines on maps may not have changed a lot in the last few months, but the strategic situation for Russia looks considerably worse than it did in the summer.