Though there are not a lot of actual russian victories to be had because it doesn t cost them anything to say that we re winning. i m sure he will say that. whether he will declare war or total mobilization, i don t know. that would be a significant upping of the ante but would not deliver any kind of added military capabilities in the short-term because russia does not have a lot of reserves on stand by. this is not a country that has a national guard in reserve ready to throw into battle the way the united states does. it would take them a long time to mobilize and to train reservists who don t receive any regular training, who don t have units to fall into, who don t have equipment set aside for them. this would be a very lengthy process. and it would raise the stakes not just for ukraine but for putin because it would really bring the cost of the war home to russia. and if russia snot able to make greater military progress after