It is unfortunate that western policies and Zelensky’s short sightedness pushed Ukraine a fruitless war and with the passage of time frustration is growing among Ukrainian troops and its leadership. There is no gain for Ukraine in the battlefield and every day situation is becoming from bad to worse for Ukraine. Ukraine army has less ability than Russian’s besides it is accused of massive corruption, while insufficiency and incapability of its army is resulting defeat in several fronts. Recent one is the fall of Avdiivka which is captured by Russian troops last week.
There were two options with Ukrainian troops either they fight and do not let Russian troops to capture Avdiivka or to retreat and save their lives and they chose to retreat and saved their lives instead of their soil. Ukrainian troops complained short of equipment, lack of ammunition. Zelensky blamed west which abandoned Ukraine as they have only one task before them to save Israel and allow planned and organized genocide of Palestinian people. How disgusting and shocking for world peace lovers that while 13 out of 15 members of United Nations’ Security Council tried to pass ceasefire resolution UK shamefully abstained and more shamefully America 3rd time vetoed and fully supported Israel to kill innocent Palestinians.
Russia is mobilizing more resources to have a decisive gain over Ukraine in war and analysts have opinion that with additional 170,000 troops in Russian army totaling 1.32 million further strengthened its position. Despite the bleak efforts by west and Canada and Italy joined with Germany, Britain, France and Denmark having security agreement with Ukraine; defeat signs of Ukraine is appearing, therefore Zelensky offered peace deal to Russia but with its own condition neglecting that it is loser not a victor and losers are not in a condition to get their demands approved.
Russia is superior at strategic adaptation, or learning and adaptation that affects national and military policymaking, such as how states use their resources. Both forms of adaptation are important. This capability is very important to winning wars. If Russia’s edge in strategic adaptation persists, the worst for Ukraine can happen in this war is not stalemate and it is Ukrainian defeat. The Russian military has collaborated with its strategic defense industry to develop and deploy a variety of new and evolved vehicle- and personnel-based electronic warfare systems. These jam Ukrainian communications to break unit cohesion and slow down the country’s ability to launch attacks. Electronic warfare also cuts the link between drones and their operators, helps Russia find drone operator stations, makes it hard for Ukraine to pinpoint the location of Russia’s headquarters, and, importantly, jams or degrades the effectiveness of Ukrainian precision weapons (including High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS). Although Ukraine and its partners have worked hard to keep up, they still lag behind Russia’s electronic warfare capabilities, a point made by Ukrainian Commander in Chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi in late 2023.
Perhaps the most telling area in which Russia has adapted and generated a strategic advantage is in its defense-industrial complex. The country’s September 2022 partial mobilization and other government initiatives have dramatically increased military output. Moscow has gained further arms through the contributions of North Korea, and it has bolstered its sophisticated weapons manufacturing by increasing trade with China—which has allowed Russia to acquire dual-use technologies it can no longer purchase from the West. As a result, Russia now has far more weapons and munitions than Ukraine. The Russian military complex has developed an enhanced, continually improving adaptation cycle that links battlefield lessons to Russia’s industry and strategies. This may confer on the Russians a significant military edge in the year ahead. Left unaddressed, it could become a war-winning advantage. Russia could wind up with an improved ability to strike from the sky, overwhelming a Ukrainian air defense system that is being denied sufficient interceptor missiles and making it easier for Russia to advance and terrorize Ukrainian soldiers. It could, relatedly, lead to further Russian gains on the ground, with Moscow seizing more territory in the east, in particular, but possibly also in the south.
Russia and Ukraine Comparison
Russia Ukraine
Active Soldiers 1,320,000 900,000
Reserve Forces 2,000,000 1,200,000
Paramilitary 250,000 100,000
Total Air Crafts 4,255 321
Total Helicopters 1,547 130
Dedicated attacks 730 33
Attack helicopters 559 33
trainers 552 73
Transport aircraft 453 24
Line Warfare 47 3
Destroyers 14 0
Frigates 12 0
Aircraft carriers 1 0
Nuclear weapons
Total inventory of nuclear warheads 5,889 0
The continued damage to Ukraine’s energy infrastructure not only makes the lives of Ukrainians miserable. Factories cannot be powered and steel cannot be smelted as industry falters and the country relies increasingly on foreign imports and goodwill.
Seeing a clear defeat of Ukraine, France threatened that it could send its ground forces to Ukraine however Germany, Britain and other European countries said on 27 February, 2024 that they had no plans to send ground troops to Ukraine. France hinted at the possibility, while Russia warned that any such move would inevitably lead to conflict between Russia and NATO. French president Emmanuel Macron has said on 26 February,2024 that western allies should exclude no option in seeking to avert a Russian victory in Ukraine.
It seems that western powers are now much worry about Russian victory and Ukrainian defeat which would be a major blow to the policies of USA and European countries. France has been isolated by other European countries as Germany, Britain, Spain, Poland and the Czech Republic distanced themselves from any suggestion they might commit ground troops to the Ukraine war, now in its third year. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz categorically denied and said there would be no ground troops on Ukraine by NATO or European Union. Germany is the second largest suppliers of arms to Ukraine after USA.
Economic Comparison between Russia and Ukraine
Indicators Russia Ukraine
Area 17,098,246 sq km 603,028 sq km
Population 147,182,123 33,200,000
GDP ( PPP) US$ 5,056 billion US$ 474.77 billion
GDP ( Nominal) US$ 1,862 billion US$ 173.41 billion
GDP per Capita (PPP) US$ 35,310 US$ 14,303
GDP per Capita ( Nominal) US$ 13,006 US$ 5,224
Exports US$ 500 billion US$ 68.2 billion
Imports US$ 300 billion US$ 54.1 billion
Many European countries are in a very difficult situation. UK plunged into recession and its GDP contracted 0.3% in fourth quarter of 2023, economic output stands only 1% higher than pre Covid level, government economic policies failed, GDP per capita shrank, longest run without growth on record, sterling weakened against the dollar and the euro. It seems that Britain joined Japan among the Group Seven (G7) advanced economies in a recession. Living standard of people of UK is declining and GDP per Capita has not grown since early 2022, representing the longest such unbroken run since records began in 1955. There is still no recovery for the German economy and the output could decline in the first quarter of 2024, with the second consecutive decline in economic output, the German economy would be in a technical recession.
It should be kept in mind that European and American efforts to save Ukraine defeat and to save Israel both efforts would get a blow and frustration growing in USA as could be seen in the incident of recent, where a US Air Force airman set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington in protest against the genocide of innocent Palestinians especially the mass killings of children in war. The Airman Aaron Bushnell a cyber defence operator of 531st Intelligence Support Squadron died on 26th February,2024. When a tragedy like this occurs, every member of the Air Force feels it, it was said by US Air Force Colonel Celina Noyes. This frustration signs are due to the inhuman and draconian policies of USA to support genocide of Palestinians by Israel , is a slap on the minds and conscience of US peace loving people who do not support US policies. The heads of coming generation of USA will remain down with shame for centuries due to dual standard and hypocrisy of American government and policymakers who involved in bloodshed in Vietnam, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Afghanistan and now in Palestine and it is standing at the wrong side of history.