Ukraine: Stalemate or Checkmate

November 13, 2023

Ukraine’s top General, Valery Zaluzhny, caused a furor when he wrote in an essay that the war against Russia had reached a “stalemate” and only new technology, promised by the West, could break the deadlock. Allies panicked and Moscow spin doctors kicked into overdrive, spreading narratives that this meant that Kyiv was losing and would never win. Neither assertion was true. Ukraine has seriously degraded Russia’s military and recaptured territory, but the momentum of its June counteroffensive stalled due to delays in the delivery of jets and other state-of-the-art weapons promised by NATO members. Russians were able to plant mines, bring in more cannon fodder, and dig in. Then on October 7, Putin’s terrorist proxy Hamas, slaughtered 1,200 Israelis and opened up another front in his World War III. The ensuing Israel-Gaza war is “taking away the focus”, and possibly support, from Ukraine’s struggle, admitted President Volodymyr Zelensky, and was “one of the goals” behind the attack. Putin now intends to turn this “stalemate” into “checkmate” and if he does he will once more threaten the Western security order.