Western Officials, Media Grapple With Specter of Possible Ukrainian Military Defeat

Recent reports reveal that even the U.S. intelligence community believes it unlikely that Ukrainian forces will cut Russia’s strategic land bridge to Crimea.

Ukrainian service members at military exercises, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, at a training ground in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, on Feb. 8, 2023. Stringer/Reuters

Western officials and commentators have begun facing the possibility that Kyiv may lose its war with Russia, which began early last year with the latter’s invasion of eastern Ukraine. 

“From a military perspective, a Ukrainian victory is inconceivable,” Italian army Gen. Marco Bertolini, former head of Italy’s Joint Operations Command, told the Italian press earlier this week.