That is the common narrative among Americans and Redditors

And also reality. Or does Russia still secretly occupy Kherson and Kharkiv? Did they only pretend to launch a major mobilization of new troops and call up prisoners to fill the ranks?

The day-to-day changes of the control map are less clear, especially now that there's major operational security around the counteroffensive, but I'm speaking of the overall "pattern of the war" here.

I expect that some instances will become more valuable "real estate" than others, though. So the integrity of some /c/Canada s will be worth taking care to maintain.