President Zelenskiy and Ukraine want it finished by winter, but Russia still holds the balance of power, says Keir Giles of Chatham House
trained military manpower. But as with so much else, this is a less definitive challenge for Russia than it would be for other powers.
Ukraine’s own forces remain committed to the fight. But for that to continue, they must remain convinced that they have a reasonable chance of success in preventing Russian victory. Each refusal by western partners to provide the means to hold or regain Ukrainian territory makes that chance recede a little further.
For as long as Europe and the US are hesitant and reticent about providing Ukraine with the weapons it needs to bring the conflict to a conclusion – or at the very least to inflict sufficient damage on Russia’s forces that Putin‘s perception of winning is finally challenged – it is hard to see how any swift end to the war will go in Ukraine’s favour.