Zelensky Retirement Would Be A Final Act Of Heroism

12/23/2024 1:13:21 AM

(MENAFN- Asia Times) Henry Kissinger, the American statesman who died almost exactly a year ago, said of the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s that he wished both sides could lose. As 2024 comes to an end and everyone is preparing for Donald Trump's return to the White House on January 20, Kissinger's saying looks horribly apt for the Russian war in Ukraine: both sides are losing.

The past 12 months of horrible, attritional conflict have left both sides exhausted, and neither has gained a significant advantage. Russia's forces have gained some territory in eastern Ukraine.

According to the Institute for the Study of War, by early December, Russian forces had seized 2,700 square kilometers of Ukraine this year, which is a big increase on the 465 square kilometers it seized in 2023 but represents a mere 0.4% of Ukraine's total land area.

Russia has seized less than half a percent of Ukraine at an estimated cost of 350,000 casualties. The UK Ministry of Defence has stated that in November, Russia was losing 1,500 soldiers every day, a far worse casualty rate than it was suffering in either 2022 or 2023. Media commentators have frequently predicted that in the face of this pressure Ukraine's defenses were about to collapse, but so far, this has not happened.

Ukraine meanwhile mounted its own invasion of Russia in August when its troops crossed the Russian border into the Kursk region, seizing about 1,400 square kilometers of territory. This forced Russia to send an estimated 50,000 troops, including 12,000 North Korean mercenaries, to try to drive the Ukrainians out, which so far they have failed to do. Nonetheless, the area occupied by Ukraine has shrunk to about 800 square kilometers.

At the same time, the two sides have been attacking deep inside each other's country. Russia has continued to concentrate its missile attacks on Ukraine's power grid and its cities, while Ukraine has focused on attacking arms stores, oil refineries and the leadership of Russia's forces.

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