Following over 30 months of conflict with Russia, Ukraine is facing more and more challenges on the battlefield, and the United States’ crucial support is becoming more and more dependent on shifting political tides.
The United States, Ukraine’s largest donor, withheld military aid for six months, which allowed the Kremlin’s soldiers to advance toward the battle lines. Currently, Russian forces with greater size and equipment are making sluggish but steady gains, and Ukrainian troops are struggling to stop them.
Another persistent concern for Ukraine is the duration of the political and military backing from the West, which is essential to its struggle.
Sen. JD Vance of Ohio was selected by former President Donald Trump on Monday to be his running mate for the Republican ticket in the U.S. election in November. Despite his assertion that Putin was wrong to invade, Vance believes that the United States should focus on its domestic issues rather than fighting a war thousands of miles away on another continent. This viewpoint aligns with Trump’s own.
Trump has stated that he would put an end to the violence before January’s Inauguration Day if elected. He has refused to explain how.
Meanwhile, by having renegade talks with Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Hungary’s pro-Russian prime minister Viktor Orbán—whose nation currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU—infuriated other EU leaders.
Tens of thousands of people have already died in Europe’s largest battle since World battle II, including thousands of civilians. It doesn’t seem like it will finish anytime soon.
Additionally, Putin wishes to prolong the conflict in an effort to undermine Western willingness to provide Kyiv with billions more in aid.
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How Russia dominates Ukraine
According to the Council on Foreign Relations, a U.S. research tank, in May, Russia now controls 18% of Ukrainian territory after defending forces drove it out of half of the territory it had taken during its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
Since seizing the eastern stronghold of Avdiivka in February, Russia has failed to achieve a significant success on the battlefield. However, its forces are currently advancing into border areas: Zaporizhzhia in the south, Donetsk in the east, and Kharkiv in the northeast of Ukraine.
By giving up some ground, Ukraine has used an elastic defense tactic to slow down Russian forces until Western supplies can reach brigades, buying time. But unless Ukraine can launch an unexpected attack, experts caution that Russia would surely prevail in a drawn-out war of attrition.
Although Ukrainian officials reported there was ongoing fighting in the Donetsk settlement of Urozhaine, Russia declared on Sunday that its forces had taken control of the area. In order to advance more into Donetsk, Moscow’s army is attempting to capture the strategically important hilltop city of Chasiv Yar, which is located close. According to the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, Ukraine’s soldiers are mainly restraining the Russian advance in and around the city of Kharkiv in the northeast.
In an effort to stop Ukrainian cross-border incursions, the military forces of Russia have been attempting to establish a buffer zone around the city and bring themselves within artillery range of it.
