Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was intended to be a rapid affair. Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to consider that his “special military operation” would be above in weeks, if not days. It was meant to go easily, just as the takeover of Crimea had absent in March 2014.

He hoped a new, Moscow-friendly authorities would be set up in Kyiv and Russian forces would be occupying big swaths of japanese and southern Ukraine, like significant metropolitan areas, these types of as Kharkiv, Odesa and Dnipro.

Almost nothing of the type occurred, of study course. The war – an interstate armed clash of a kind unseen in Europe because 1945 – is now getting into its 3rd calendar year. Chances are it will drag on beyond this year, way too.

At this level in time, Russia appears to be on a profitable curve. It has a double edge: in ammunition and in manpower.  The Russian armed service-industrial elaborate is operating at whole capacity, churning out materiel. Russia is also getting shells and products from helpful regimes, this sort of as North Korea and Iran.

After announcing mass mobilisation in September 2022, the armed forces authorities have been in a position to get enough boots on the ground, many thanks to a assortment of economic incentives and some overseas recruitment.

Ukraine, in the meantime, is hobbled by the US Congress’s incapability to go the financial aid bundle tabled by President Joe Biden back again in October, which is vital for giving Kyiv’s forces with weapons and devices. EU associates cannot fill the resulting gap in ammunition stocks since they have not managed to scale up armed service-industrial output. In addition, Ukraine faces a troop lack, getting held the bare minimum recruitment age fastened at 27 many years outdated.

The disparity is commencing to show on the battlefield. The Ukrainian army’s significantly-anticipated summertime and autumn counteroffensive floor to a halt, failing to punch by the Russian defensive lines in the Zaporizhia province and Donbas.

Lately, Ukrainians had to withdraw from the city of Avdiivka, shut to Donetsk, handing a symbolic win to Putin. They are experiencing force in other parts of the entrance, also, like close to Kreminna and Kupiansk, which Ukrainian forces recovered in a blitz offensive in the autumn of 2022.

Russia is struggling large losses, much too. It is estimated 16,000 were being killed and wounded and hundreds of military services autos were missing in the struggle for Avdiivka. But the armed forces command and the Kremlin experience that they can prevail in a war of attrition due to the fact numbers favour their facet, not Ukraine’s.

With Russia attaining momentum, voices arguing that Ukraine must sue for peace are beginning to emerge. The argument they make is that Kyiv should really accept Putin’s conditions now due to the fact it would be in an even weaker position heading ahead.

No question, the Kremlin is endorsing totally this line. The interview Putin recently gave to the former Fox anchor Tucker Carlson aims to reach out to the Republican base in the United States, which seems receptive. And of course, must Donald Trump win the presidential election in November, the idea that Ukraine ought to settle and make concessions to Putin could well turn into the cornerstone of US policy.

There are sympathetic leaders inside the European Union, much too, with Hungary’s Primary Minister Viktor Orban becoming one particular but not the only case in point.

Having said that, chances for any meaningful negotiations are slim to non-existent. The Russian management looks to be hell-bent on preventing until finally the bitter end. There is no sign Putin and his entourage have altered their first objectives of subjugating Ukraine.

If Moscow believes that the tide is shifting in their advantage, what is the stage of stopping? The only virtue of a ceasefire and negotiations is to gain the time essential to reconstitute one’s forces and start off pushing even more difficult.

This is exactly what the Ukrainians fear. Any exertion to accommodate Putin would only spike his appetite for much more land and bigger command about Ukraine. A putative settlement could possibly not be worthy of the paper it is published on.

Ukraine has cards to enjoy, far too. It has decimated Russia’s Black Sea fleet, for instance, sinking its flagship, Moskva, amid some others. The fleet has now relocated from Sevastopol in Crimea to Novorossiysk on the Black Sea’s eastern seaboard. As a end result, business transport out of the port of Odesa has reached volumes equivalent to January 2022, the thirty day period ahead of the whole-scale invasion started off.

What is a lot more, Ukraine has shown the ability to strike targets deep inside Russian territory – this kind of as the oil export terminal in Ust-Luga, not far from St Petersburg. Ukrainians are operating tirelessly on developing abilities and military property, these types of as lengthy-length drones, which could, in excess of time, assist prevent Russians.

In limited, Ukraine can blunt Russia’s edge, attaining time right until Europe starts to deliver more than enough ammunition to fill the hole on the entrance line.

This all bodes sick for the prospective clients of negotiations. For both equally parties, war continues to be the only selection on give. Russia will doggedly pursue its campaign of conquest. Ukraine will defend alone valiantly. Quick of an overpowering victory for either Moscow or Kyiv in the coming months – a alternatively unlikely circumstance – the war is in this article to stay.

The sights expressed in this post are the author’s own and do not necessarily replicate Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.