Polls in Ukraine show that the public overwhelmingly rejects concessions to Russia. Essentially once the West made a decision that Ukraine is important it had to support them to the end, and that means the Ukrainians are the ones who will decide when theyre going to stop, he said. https://rentry.co/5u4bio8y and Western sanctions have damaged Russias society and economy, but Moscow has blunted the worst effects and is unlikely to be left so weak as to be unable to pursue the war.

Russia's military strategy has at times been beset with logistical problems, confusing the picture of what Russia's main or immediate goals are. The analysts predicted refugee flows of 5 million to 10 million people from Ukraine to Western Europe. However it's widely expected that Russian President Vladimir Putin, loathing Ukraine's current pro-Western government and its aspirations to join the EU and NATO, wants to install a pro-Russian regime in Kyiv. Close watchers of the Russia-Ukraine war say the fluid and rapidly changing nature of the conflict makes it hard to gauge what will happen next in Ukraine, with both Moscow's and the West's next moves unpredictable.

Want to support the people in Ukraine? Here's how you can help

The fierce determination of the Ukrainian people up to this point suggests that this will not occur any time soon. To a lesser extent, Putin is dependent on the support of the general population. The public is bearing the costs of war in the form of inflation, economic decline and battlefield deaths. This suggests that the two sides will have difficulty ever resolving the information problem. When this happens, countries often end up fighting wars of attrition that last until one side gives up. It was largely apparent that Russias army was and is far superior to Ukraines in terms of stockpiles of weapons and number of personnel.

• Even if the passage to democracy isnt chaotic and violent, such a governments first order of business wouldnt be to evacuate all occupied territories.
• "The United States maintains by far the world's most powerful nuclear stockpile, but with the US out of the mix, the French and British, with their much smaller arsenals, would be Europes only nuclear deterrent," Mr OBrien says.
• A year ago, most everyone expected Russia to dominate the skies with its much larger and more modern air force.
• A prominent war expert says the US is on the verge of lessening its support for, or even withdrawing from, NATO - with potentially catastrophic consequences for Europe.

These are the sort of outcomes that could follow on from a decisive Russian military victory. Without such a victory, the Kremlin might revert to more modest goals but even in this case Ukraine is fully aware of the danger. Could its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, accept a permanent Russian presence in Donbas? Not explicitly, and certainly not in the form of a codified peace deal. He has spoken about a negotiated settlement on the status of Donetsk and Luhansk, but that is an old concession that goes back to the origins of the current crisis in 2014. Another road to victory is to simply run down the clock, with Russia working under the assumption that, even if the west keeps supplying Ukraine with arms, Kyivs army might run out of military personnel.

After a year of war in Ukraine, all signs point to more misery with no end in sight

Many experts I consulted, however, advised girding for a struggle that could last a lot longer, even if the war in its more acute form resolves sooner. His message was that progress has been slow, painful and limited, though he expressed hope that might change. Mykhailo Podolyak, another close adviser to President Zelensky, agreed there were "several groups of people who want to take power in Russia". The drama over the border in Russia has hardened the view in Kyiv that Mr Putin's time as Russia's president is coming to an end.