Missiles for what?

On January 25, 2023, we published in these same pages a forum entitled Tanks for what? in which we essentially argued that the delivery of the latest generation of Western battle tanks to Ukraine represented a new challenge for Russia, but that it was not going to significantly change the course of the war, let alone lead to a Ukrainian victory that we considered implausible even then. Twenty-two months later, the war situation between Ukraine and Russia is significantly worse. Russian troops not only maintain virtually all of the Ukrainian territory they occupied at that time, but they are slowly but inexorably advancing into the Donetsk province, overcoming opposition from the Ukrainian army, which is having serious difficulties replacing its soldiers. defeated or exhausted. and deserters in increasing numbers, while a majority of the population moved from unconditional support for the war to a declaration in favor of a negotiated peace. And they still face a third winter with significant energy restrictions due to Russian attacks on facilities and power plants.

The only success that Ukrainian forces can claim is the invasion and occupation of a small part – currently around 1,000 square kilometers – of Russian territory in Kursk province in August this year. It seems that the government of Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky would like at all costs to maintain this position in order to use it as an element of exchange in future negotiations, even if as a negotiating asset it would have little weight since the territory occupied by Ukraine in Russia is about a hundredth of what it occupies in Ukraine.