1,569 days - that's how long Russia's aggression against Ukraine has lasted. The war that the Kremlin thought would end in days has now lasted longer than World War I. "Russia does not know how to win", says Anne Applebaum.
1,569 days - that's how long Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine has lasted. The war, which Moscow thought would end in a few days, has already lasted longer than World War I, notes the "New York Times".
The war will not end soon
In early June, Volodymyr Zelensky sent a letter to Vladimir Putin, in which he called for direct negotiations to end the war. Putin replied that he saw no point in such a meeting, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov added: "The president assessed this letter more as an indication that Ukraine does not need negotiations".
The expectations of a number of politicians and experts are that the military conflict will not end soon. And it, along with World War I, is among those that have led to the most serious consequences for the Old Continent, Ukrainian historian Yaroslav Hrytsak noted to the "New York Times". With the introduction of airplanes and tanks, the war that began 112 years ago is changing the way armed conflicts are fought. And the current war between Russia and Ukraine has made drones a primary means of fighting.
"Russia Doesn't Know How to Win"
American historian and journalist Ann Applebaum writes in this regard that the dynamics of the war have changed seriously this year. First of all, Russia has lost more territory in recent months than it has gained. The front line today is a 30-kilometer no-man's land, where Russian units cannot move because they are within range of Ukrainian drones, Applebaum writes.
This leaves Russia with only one option: to attack from the air with drones and missiles, with which to hit and destroy civilian objects. And the ability of Ukrainian drones to strike targets on Russian territory seriously changes the outcome of the psychological war, within which the Kremlin until recently instilled in the Russian public that everything was going according to plan.
Russia is not winning, believes Ann Applebaum, and even more importantly, it does not know how to win. This probably means that at some point the conflict will be frozen, and no man's land will become a temporary border. Such an outcome would not mean a complete victory for Ukraine, but it would be a heavy defeat for Putin, who will obviously never realize his goal of destroying the Ukrainian state, summarizes the Pulitzer Prize winner.
Like World War I, but with drones
In World War I, the Allies achieved victory by combining economic pressure on Germany with a strict naval blockade and military pressure through relentless offensives, recalls the "New York Times". Ukraine’s strategy for ending the war somewhat echoes this approach.
The drone strikes on Russian oil facilities, the backbone of Russia’s economy, are intended to limit Moscow’s ability to finance its military operations. Kiev lacks the manpower to replicate the offensives of World War I, but it has flooded the battlefield with drones, aiming to inflict heavy casualties on the Russian army. “This is World War I with drones,” says historian Yaroslav Hrytsak.