The bloodiest battles on the front in Ukraine are yet to come and the war is unlikely to end anytime soon, The Independent reports, shortly before the third anniversary of the Russian army's full-scale invasion.
According to the newspaper, Russia could occupy the entire Ukrainian region of Donbas by the end of the year. There is no guarantee that negotiations between the US and Russia will resolve the conflict, and the bloodiest battles are yet to come.
The Independent says that on current trends, Russia could seize the rest of Donbas by year's end. In any case, an end to the war is unlikely. There is no guarantee that negotiations between the US and Russia will lead to a resolution of the conflict.
Unfortunately, this means that the bloodiest battles of the war are yet to come, as the Russian military seeks to maximize its military advantage.
Against this backdrop, Donald Trump has publicly engaged in a war of words with Kiev, even calling Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator.” From Trump’s perspective, this is Biden’s war, which is already lost. Trump wants to find a quick solution and move on. If that fails, he can wash his hands of it and let the Europeans deal with the war.
At the same time, no one is forcing Russia to rush into a deal it doesn’t like. Moscow’s conditions are known: official recognition that the occupied regions are now Russian and the withdrawal of remaining Ukrainian troops from those regions. Kiev must promise permanent neutrality and impose limitations on its armed forces.
But these terms are completely unacceptable to Kiev. And the only way to force such a deal on Kiev is either a complete military collapse of Ukrainian forces, which is unlikely at the moment, or concerted pressure from the West [on Kiev] to accept Russia's terms. But the Europeans still insist that Ukraine must keep fighting until it can negotiate "from a position of strength."