The forecasts are anything but optimistic: The best Ukraine can hope for in 2024, many Western officials and analysts say, is to simply hold the line.
Western nations, buoyed by Ukraine’s success, promised aid to help Ukrainians break through Russian lines.
Ukraine’s own domestic arms production was mired in bureaucracy, top military officials have said.
Those weaknesses, and some strategic battlefield missteps, stymied Ukraine’s widely telegraphed counteroffensive, which resulted in only marginal territorial gains.
At the same time, Russia was fortifying its defensive lines, converting its economy to war production, conscripting hundreds of thousands of fighters and adjusting its strategy for renewed offensives this winter.
Persons:
staving
Locations:
Ukraine, Russia