“We simply don’t have the resources to do the frontal attacks that the West is imploring us to do,” a source told The Economist, effectively conceding that the Ukrainian “Counter-Offensive“ has failed.

The source told The Economist that Ukraine’s army “was never blind to the challenges of breaching Russian minefields and defence lines without air superiority.” That was the reason the Ukraine leadership “delayed the counter-offensive as long as it could.”

“After a disastrous start in early June, when two Western-trained brigades lost an uncomfortable number of men and equipment in minefields, the initial plans were adjusted,“ The Economist writes.

Ukraine is now trying to cut its losses, according to the reports, effectively meaning the end of the “Spring counter-offensive“ that was supposed to drive through to Crimea and the Sea of Azov, and vanquish Russia.

“We no longer plan operations that presuppose large losses,” the source told The Economist. “The emphasis is now on degrading the enemy: artillery, drones, electronic warfare and so on.”

“The grim mood is spilling over into Ukraine’s politics,” The Economist writes, noting that Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenksy may call early elections, which he had originally put on hold till after the end of the war: “The logic is that it is better for him to seek re-election while still a national hero, rather than after being forced into peace talks that might require an unpopular ceasefire or major territorial concessions.”

While many Ukrainians are doubting the war, “Peace negotiations with Russia would be an even harder sell”, The Economist believes.

However, in August “a Ukrainian sniper fighting north-west of Bakhmut made waves” by “publicly dismissing the prospect of a Ukrainian victory,” The Economist reports. “He suggested that many soldiers would now welcome a ceasefire—a notion that would once have been unthinkable.”

Ukraine’s young men are “already bearing the burden of a war that has no end in sight”, The Economist reports. “For young men, in constant danger of being served conscription papers and sent to the front, the pressure is particularly intense. Those keen to fight volunteered long ago; Ukraine is now recruiting mostly among the unwilling.”

“Everyone knows that the cost of regained territory is dead soldiers”, the founder of troop support group Cvit (Blossom) Anastasia Zamula told The Economist.  “Even hoping for success in the counter-offensive has become an act of self-destruction.”

Ep. 18 Into the abyss: Colonel Douglas Macgregor tells us why the Ukraine war must end now. pic.twitter.com/a3bGLvJC4s

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) August 21, 2023