The highest stakes in the Ukrainian offensive into Russian territory in Kursk may turn out not to be how far they advance nor whether they can hold it. The advance seems already to be running out of gas and few in the U.S. or NATO have any expectation that Ukraine can hold onto the territory they so quickly took.

The key city of Pokrovsk is being evacuated as heavily outnumbered Ukrainian soldiers find their comrades’ success across the border is doing nothing to relieve the strain

Strategic prudence—from nineteenth-century Europe and ancient China alike—urges Kiev to wind down the Kursk operation, and consolidate scarce manpower and resources to defend what matters most.

Russian troops are steadily marching toward a key Ukrainian logistical center.

Post-independence Ukraine failed to fulfill its initially promising socio-economic potential due to incorrigible corruption, and when people finally began to protest this systemic problem, their movements were co-opted by the West as part of a geopolitical power play against Russia.

American officials are not convinced that Ukraine intends to hold its position in Russia long term.

Is the Kursk incursion by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) a big strategic blunder? Following the spectacular and rapid capture of over 90 settlements and more than 1,000 square kilometres of territory since August 6, military experts worry about the deteriorating position of Ukraine’s defence of the front line in Donbas.

Nobody should get their hopes up about the US forcing Ukraine to withdraw though.

Ukraine cannot achieve its maximal goals

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Some new Ukrainian soldiers refuse to fire at the enemy. Others, according to commanders and fellow fighters, struggle to assemble weapons or to coordinate basic combat movements. A few have even walked away from their posts, abandoning the battlefield altogether.