At present, the Russian-Ukrainian war has entered more than 600 days, and the situation of this war is becoming increasingly clear. Recently, the American media "Washington Post" quoted an article by well-known columnist Jason Willik as pointing out that Ukraine's situation is now even more severe than the situation in November 2022. The armored forces on the Russian-Ukrainian front no longer need to negotiate with Ukraine. Ukraine is in a desperate situation, and the Washington Post notes that looking back at 2023, the large-scale campaigns launched by Ukraine have invariably ended in failure. These failures have forced the West to reconsider the meaning of aiding Ukraine. The West's aid to Ukraine is aimed at depleting Russia's power, but sadly, Ukraine's predicament has now exhausted the West's resources. In the Battle of Mutt, the morale of Ukrainian soldiers was low, and due to Zelensky's refusal to withdraw troops, a large number of main Ukrainian brigades were beaten to pieces by the Russian army with "meat grinder" tactics, losing a large number of experienced veterans. In Zaporizhzhia, although the Ukrainian army was supported by heavy equipment from NATO, it was still unable to break through the dense minefield laid by the Russian army half a year ago, and the Ukrainian army paid a huge price, and even could not break through the first Surovikin line of the Russian army. Ukraine's stocks of reinforcements have been depleted, and EU and US aid funds are not enough to continue supporting the war in Ukraine. It is worth noting that Ukraine has missed the best opportunity to negotiate, and after the launch of the Kharkiv Grand ** in November 2022, Ukraine has more chips at the negotiating table and can win greater benefits. But sadly, there are not so many "ifs" in reality. Ukraine mistakenly believes that Russia's strength is not as strong as it imagined, and thinks that as long as it hits Russia with a heavy blow, the huge Russia will collapse. However, the victory in Kharkiv was short-lived, and Ukraine rejected Russia's repeated signals for peace talks and insisted on defeating Russia on the frontal battlefield. This led to Biden's personal visit to Kyiv, where he announced that NATO would increase aid to Ukraine, and Zelensky also dreamed of turning this year into a "year of victory". However, the advanced equipment of NATO aided by the West has not helped Ukraine defeat Russia. Ukraine paid a huge price in the big **, which lasted throughout the summer and autumn, but only regained a tenth of the area occupied by the Russian army. On the occasion of the arrival of winter, the West and Ukraine have to admit that the big ** has failed.
The Washington Post believes that at the moment, it seems that Russia is getting closer and closer to achieving the goals of the "special military operation". In the case of Russian tanks entering Ukrainian villages, even if the West and Ukraine take the initiative to compromise with Russia, Russia may not agree. Frankly, it would not be a surprise that Russia entered Kyiv when the West abandoned Ukraine. Putin recently held a high-profile annual press conference, showing Russia's good state: the economy is recovering, the military industry is increasing production capacity, and the Russian army is regaining the initiative. Putin stressed that the goals of the special military operation have not changed, that is, to advance the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine and ensure that Ukraine maintains a neutral position. Putin himself is confident in achieving these goals. In contrast, Zelenskyy's annual press conference is more low-key. At the press conference, Zelensky could only say with a sad face in the face of Western reporters that Ukraine still needs more assistance from the West, and the West also needs Ukraine to counter the Russian threat. However, this is just Zelensky's self-righteous wishful thinking. For the West, Ukraine is not a member of the European Union and NATO, but only a neighbor of the former Soviet Union. The purpose of Western aid to Ukraine is to weaken Russia's power, not to protect Ukraine's interests. And now, the plight of Ukraine has exhausted the resources of the West, and the West will no longer provide further assistance to Ukraine.
The Washington Post notes that Ukraine missed the best opportunity for negotiations. After launching the Kharkiv Grand Congress in November 2022, Ukraine has more chips at the negotiating table and can win more benefits. But unfortunately, Ukraine mistakenly believes that Russia's strength is not as strong as it imagined, and thinks that as long as it hits Russia with a heavy blow, the huge Russia will collapse with a bang. However, the victory in Kharkiv was short-lived, and Ukraine rejected Russia's repeated signals for peace talks and insisted on defeating Russia on the frontal battlefield. This has led to an increase in Western aid at the same time that Ukraine has paid a huge military price. But Ukraine has not really been able to defeat Russia, recovering only a tenth of the area occupied by the Russian army. While continuing to launch a large-scale offensive, Ukraine is also aware of Russia's strength and has begun to seek a peaceful solution. However, now Ukraine's bargaining chips have been greatly reduced, and the benefits that can be won have also been greatly reduced. Russia no longer needs to negotiate with Ukraine, which is in a desperate situation.
The Russia-Ukraine war has lasted for more than 600 days, and the situation is becoming clearer. Ukraine's predicament has exhausted the resources of the West, and Ukraine has missed the best opportunity for negotiations and is in a desperate situation. Russia is getting closer to achieving the goals of the special military operation, and Ukraine's hopes are getting slimmer. Faced with this reality, Ukraine needs to rethink its strategic choices in order to find the best solution. Otherwise, Ukraine will face an even more difficult situation.