There has to be some notion that he says this is gonna be too costly. Russian forces were bombarding Kharkiv, and they had taken territory in the east and south as far as Kherson, and surrounded the port city of Mariupol. Russia has shown that it is committed to a long conflict in Ukraine and that it has the capacity to send hundreds of thousands of men to war. Putin claimed in his end-of year news conference that 617,000 troops were currently active in Ukraine. Another year of war in Europe has undoubtedly drained Western military resources and the political appetite to maintain massive amounts of military aid for Ukraine. In the meantime, the ISW noted in an analysis, "Ukrainian forces establish and consolidate defensive positions to conserve manpower and resources for future offensive efforts."

• Russia accused Ukrainian forces of shooting down the plane with Western-provided missiles on Wednesday, saying the plane had been on its way to a prisoner exchange.
• The United States, as Ukraines most important military supporter, remains the center of gravity when it comes to an eventual outcome for the conflict.
• Fragments of what appears to be an anti-aircraft guided missile were found at the crash site of the downed Russian military transport plane, Russian new agency TASS reported Thursday.
• It has also changed conscription laws, foreseeing the need to bolster its forces, which are dwarfed in size by Russia's but are more highly trained and equipped.
• Germany's Defence Minister, Boris Pistorius, recently told a German newspaper "we have to take into account that Vladimir Putin might even attack a Nato country one day".

Alexei Kulemzin said Ukraine was behind the strike on the eastern Ukrainian city, which is currently under Russian occupation. https://houmann-monroe-2.federatedjournals.com/how-do-russians-feel-about-a-war-with-ukraine-1707341818 are also hoping that new deliveries of US and Western heavy weapons, particularly long-range artillery, will help them to turn the tide against the Russian army and regain some territory, Shea said. Moreover, such a scenario would not be politically justifiable for Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy. That would make him the president who not only lost the war but also large parts of his country.

Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 667

Everything I have come to learn about the will and determination of the Ukrainians leads me to conclude retaking Crimea is within reach, and they need the artillery that will enable hitting targets the sites of missiles destroying infrastructure in Ukraine, he said. Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, expects the war to end at the negotiating table, but said serious diplomacy hasnt begun because Putin is still clinging to maximalist goals. An inability to do so could foster economic discontent capable of turning public opinion against the war, Lichfield told Defense News. Moscow has proved resourceful when it comes to building autonomy into critical goods, Lichfield explained. For example, the tactic of repurposing dishwasher electronics for weapons, mocked in the West as a sign of desperation, probably means somebody thought about that from the beginning, he said. In the course of the past year, Putins domestic propaganda strategy has morphed from a message of fight the Nazis in Ukraine to fight the West there, said Stefan Meister, a Russia and Eastern Europe expert at the Berlin-based German Council on Foreign Relations.

• After Russia first invaded in 2014, the U.S. military stepped up training for the Ukrainian military in western Ukraine.
• Do they think that Putin, after he has been successful and shown that hes been a great leader, and he won against the mighty Nato alliance and all this force, that hes gonna stop?
• Since the counteroffensive was launched in June, only a handful of villages have been recaptured.
• And even once Russian forces have achieved some presence in Ukraine's cities, perhaps they struggle to maintain control.
• For the last few months Russian and Ukrainian forces have battled for control of territory in the country's east - with Moscow making slow advances in recent weeks.

Putin illegally annexed four territories from Ukraine in September and now presents Ukraine's efforts backed by the West to take back its own territory as a fascist attack on the Russian homeland. As such, many Ukrainians are against the war, with "no war" becoming a common slogan. But polls show that does not equal pacifism, with the overwhelming majority of Ukrainians supporting a prolonged defensive war.

Will Ukraine War End in 2024? Experts Weigh In

The town is sometimes described as the gateway to the city of Donetsk, which has been occupied by Russia and its proxy forces since 2014. Taking Avdiivka - which lies close by - would allow Russia to push the front line back, making it harder for the Ukrainian forces to retake the territory. Putin denied a second wave of mobilization was necessary for now, but in early December he signed adecree ordering the militaryto increase the number of Russian armed forces personnel by170,000, bringing the total number of troops to 1.32 million. A year ago, Ukraine's international military support was solid with NATO pledging to support Kyiv for "as long as it takes" as it defended itself against Russia's invasion launched in February 2022. "My sense is that even without outside support, the Ukrainians will continue to fight," she told Newsweek.

Depending on how long the war lasts, it remains far from certain whether lawmakers will keep funding Ukraine aid packages. Congress provided more than $100 billion in aid to Kyiv since Russia invaded last year, including $61.4 billion in military aid. Retired Maj. Gen. Patrick Donahoe, a former commander of the U.S. Armys maneuver warfare school at Fort Benning, Georgia, said Western upgrades offer Ukraine the chance to dominate the close fight with Russian adversaries and conclude the tactical fighting to its advantage. Also in the mix is a pledge from France to ship AMX-10 RC light, wheeled tanks. In Jensens view, even the collapse of Russias conventional force or a traditional Ukrainian victory may not mean the war is over; either could lead to nuclear escalation by Russia.

Intense fighting continues nonetheless, and particularly around Bakhmut and Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine where Russian forces are conducting offensive operations and have made some recent, confirmed advances. A U.S. intelligence report revealed Russia had lost 87 percent of its pre-invasion forces, or 315,000 troops and with a renewed mobilization expected after the election showing Putin's willingness to sacrifice his own people. In December, he approved spending that will see the military take up around 30 percent of Russia's total budget in 2024. Ukraine on Wednesday suggested Russia failed to inform it of the need to create a safe airspace after a military aircraft was downed, reportedly while carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war ahead of an exchange. It did not specifically reference the aircraft which crashed earlier Wednesday, which Russia said was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war and nine Russians. Russia accused Ukrainian forces of shooting down the plane with Western-provided missiles on Wednesday, saying the plane had been on its way to a prisoner exchange.