Having spent three weeks in Ukraine and having travelled the front line from the south to the east, CNN analyst Nick Robertson assures that there is hardly any change to be expected in the course of the war in the near future. The front line of more than 600 kilometers is too long for Russia to actively advance anywhere without loosening the hold in other regions. The Ukrainians, even after the recent deliveries of long-range Western weapons, are still ahead of Russia in firepower, so they are also limited in their subsequent operations. Also in the Kherson oblast: the author notes that he did not notice a significant concentration of either Ukrainian equipment or Ukrainian troops there, which would indicate preparations for an offensive. Rather, Robertson believes, Ukraine promoted the topic of a counterattack in the Kherson region in order to draw Russian troops away from the Donbas ― and achieved this. Now the front line has generally stabilized, and the warring parties have distinguished wide fields, which neither side can overcome without significant losses. However, the author is impressed by the size of the country and the number of men of military age in peaceful Ukrainian cities. He is convinced that Ukraine will be able to fight for a long time, and due to the support of the world, the balance of power will change in its favor. "Putinʼs hell has a lot more ugly tomorrows to come, and while the tide of Putinʼs offensive has yet to turn conclusively for Ukraine, it is weakening in their favor," the author concludes.
RAND Corporation researcher Dara Massicot in Foreign Affairs also supports the position that Russia is getting exhausted and needs a break from this war. Which can be achieved, for example, by annexing all four parts of fully occupied regions. After that, the publication predicts, the way to expand the status of nuclear protection in this area: they say, if Ukraine tries to win back this territory, Russia can use nuclear weapons ― a similar principle it declares regarding the annexed Crimea. After that, the author states, the West, due to fear of escalation, will stop supporting Ukraine with active weapons - and the conflict will enter a cold phase. However, the author assumes that Ukraine will definitely not come to terms with internal land and will continue to attack the positions of the occupiers. Four regions, taking into account the Russiansʼ loss of a significant number of qualified fighters, equipment, and money, is still too much of a burden for the Kremlin, and the risk of losing part of these territories to the Russians is high. In this sense, Ukraine, when it is in Russian warehouses, does everything right, because according to Russian military doctrine, a combat unit is defined as non-functional when it loses from 40 to 70 percent of its equipment - depending on the type of unit. The fewer tanks and planes the Russians have left in a certain part of the territory, the more likely it is that the Kremlin will make another "gesture of goodwill" by freeing the Ukrainians from their presence in this part of the occupied territory.
Dozens of publications in foreign media are currently devoted to the Russian attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Moreover, attention is paid not only to the geopolitical weight of this object, but also to what ordinary civilians are experiencing. For example, the US public broadcaster, NPR radio station, focused on the residents of Nikopol, who live across the river from the Russian-occupied Energodar and ZNPP. And if the sight of the plant used to make many of these people proud, the power lines and contours of the units will rather remind them of the danger. Yes, these contours are visible from the windows of the apartment of Tamara Korolkova from Nikopol. "I am old, I have diabetes. The station is very close. If something happens, I will only have time to lie down on the floor of the apartment and close my eyes“, she says. However, if the danger of an explosion at the station is a consequence, then Russian shelling of Nikopol and nearby settlements is real. The radio reporter talks about the solidarity currently felt among local residents. For example, when a shell hit the house of Oleksandr Pylypenkoʼs grandchildren, dozens of neighbors rushed to help him rebuild his home. "I didnʼt expect this," Pylypenko says in the story, barely holding his tears. "But these days, such actions seem very Ukrainian."