Some excerpts from a good article here:
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/29/europe/ukraine-war-victory-hopes-dim-intl/ind... Ukraine’s hopes for victory fade in the face of waning
Western support and Putin’s relentless war machine
Analysis by Tim Lister, CNN
7 minute read
Updated 10:32 AM EST, Fri December 29, 2023
As December came to a close, Ukraine suffered the biggest Russian air attack since the start of the full-scale invasion.
Russia fired 158 drones and missiles – including hypersonic Kinzhals – at targets across Ukraine on Friday, killing at least 18 people and injuring scores more. Zelensky said Russia used “nearly every type of weapon in its arsenal” in the strikes.
The Russian way of war, absorbing hideous losses of men and materiel but throwing yet more into the fight, has blunted the Ukrainian military’s tactical and technological edge, as its top general admitted in a candid essay last month.
The mood in Moscow seems grimly determined: the goals of the “special military operation” will be achieved, and the fighting will continue until they are.
President Joe Biden speaks at the Wisconsin Black Chamber of Commerce, Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
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As the long frontline becomes ever more calcified, the Kremlin senses greater skepticism among Kyiv’s Western backers that Ukraine can recover the 17% of its territory still occupied by Russian forces.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is relishing the much more partisan atmosphere in Washington, where many in the Republican Party are questioning the purpose of sending Ukraine another $61 billion worth of aid as requested by the Biden administration, assessing that it will achieve little on the battlefield.
But the Russians’ vast reserves of manpower and hardware (Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu boasted that he could raise 25 million men if necessary) mean they can continue bludgeoning the smaller Ukrainian military, making incremental gains at enormous cost.