New Delhi, Dec. 6 -- On day 1,380 of the Russo-Ukrainian war, Moscow entered yet another pivotal phase of its "special military operation," pressing its advantage on the Pokrovsk front while signaling, in characteristically blunt terms, that any truce will be drawn on Russian, not Western, conditions. Russia's leadership, far from appearing cornered, now talks as a power confident that time, attrition, and a fraying Western coalition are steadily eroding Ukraine's capacity to resist.

Russian President Putin has used recent days not only to trumpet battlefield gains but to test the diplomatic ground, tying his public rhetoric on Odesa and Mykolaiv directly to the stalled US-led peace efforts. While Western governments decry these statemen...