Resignation spreading in Ukraine: “We are losing the war”

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In Ukraine, victory slogans are followed by slogans of perseverance. Now there is even more open talk of defeat in the war against the Russian invaders. Another grueling winter is just around the corner. The movements at the front will come to an almost complete standstill after a long stalemate. Disillusionment spreads among Ukrainian soldiers.

“I’ve been saying this for a while. Step by step we are losing the war.” A soldier told the AFP news agency in a telephone interview from the front. “The longer this stagnant war lasts, the worse it will be for us.”

Since November a year ago, the front line between Ukrainian and Russian troops in the east and south of the country has hardly changed. This prompted General Valeri Zalushni, 50, commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, to say recently that the warring sides along the extended front had reached a stalemate.

Exhaustion on all sides

The widely announced counter-offensive with many new weapons and new recruits could only gain a small amount of ground: at one point a maximum of 17 kilometers. “Just like in the First World War, we have reached a technological level that is putting us at a stalemate,” Saluschni told the British magazine ‘Economist’. “There will most likely not be a big, beautiful breakthrough.”

The war becomes “positional” – in other words, stalled. His earlier assessment that he could stop Russia by bleeding its troops dry also turned out to be an illusion: “That was my mistake,” the general said. “Russia has at least 150,000 deaths. In any other country, such losses would have stopped the war.”

Now Salushni is desperately trying to prevent a war in the trenches. “The biggest risk of a grueling trench war is that it could drag on for years and exhaust the Ukrainian state.” The longer the war lasts, the harder it becomes to sustain it. Salushni: “Sooner or later we will realize that we simply don’t have enough people to fight.”

Hoping for more modern weapons

This surprising and unusually public assessment by Ukraine’s top military leader caused major waves in the country. Responding to Saluzhni’s blunt statements, presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoljak, 51, said the country is facing a turning point and must determine a strategy to win the conflict with Russia. Podoljak himself admitted to AFP that this phase of the fighting encountered “difficulties”.

Saluschnyi Any suggestions for solutions to what many consider a hopeless situation? Innovations in drone and anti-artillery technology and improved mine clearance. However, there are no signs that a technological breakthrough, whether in drones or electronic warfare, is imminent.

Selenski: “No one believes in our victory as much as I do. No one.”

Ukraine wants F-16 fighter jets and long-range missiles from its Western allies, while its infantry cannot cope with deep Russian defenses. “We have too many problems,” another soldier told AFP. «First, the quality of the training of our soldiers. Secondly, we don’t have enough weapons or artillery,” the 33-year-old said. “We’re short of artillery and it’s getting worse.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selensky (45) is also becoming increasingly lonely. Time Magazine dedicated the cover to him – on which Selensky stands with his back to the camera and quotes him in large letters: ‘No one believes in our victory as much as I do. No one.”

Source: Blick