Ukraine’s Sovereignty Prospects Dim in 2024, Part 2

The second installment of my candid assessment of the war in Ukraine.

This pessimistic report card on the war figures in the blunt assessment of the current and future state of the war made by General Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s top military officer. However, by focusing on technology to explain why defensive operations have had primacy over offensive operations, Zaluzhny missed an opportunity to reflect on and fix Ukraine’s shortfalls. Zaluzhny states that “Just like in the First World War we have reached the level of technology that puts us into a stalemate,” but technology is only part of the issue. Yes, Ukraine lacks airpower, sufficient artillery, and modern Western armored vehicles, but other critical deficiencies have at least as much to do with Ukraine’s stalled offensive. This attention, on technology and insufficient material, rather than the deficiencies in logistics and training, focuses on external problems beyond Ukraine’s control rather than on issues Ukraine can potentially fix.

The lack of focus on sustainment and repair of Western-donate…