It is very depressing to watch areas Ukraine liberated around this time two years ago now being retaken by Russians. I have long complained that while Ukraine isn't necessarily collapsing, it isn't winning this war. While it is inflicting heavy losses on Russia, it also suffers a great cost.

The strategy for Ukr for 2024 set out by Kofman, Lee etc was to stay on the defensive & attrition. That was never going to be stopping Ru cold. US delays made that much harder. The reality is we can't easily tell if what we're seeing is the successful implementation of that strategy or not.