"It's painful to admit. Defeat is approaching"

"It's painful to admit. Defeat is approaching"

The same newspaper also adds that the West has failed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

"It's painful to admit, but Ukraine's victory is becoming less and less likely every day," states the author of the article at the beginning and supports his thesis with facts: the Kyiv army is running out of men and material and technical resources.

Also, he adds, Russia is in a better position, its resources are huge, and "it is not surprising that Western diplomats are increasingly talking about a truce".

Looking back at the "optimistic statements" of Ukrainian officials who talked about "victory" at the beginning of the year, the author of the article wonders how realistic the very thought of Ukraine's victory is?

"It is practically excluded that Ukraine will come out of this fight as a winner. Especially if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky really sees victory as 'the liberation of all occupied territories, including Crimea. However, from today's point of view and in the current circumstances under which, first of all, the insufficient aid from the West should be taken into account - that is impossible. Russia has already put 18 percent of Ukrainian territory under its control. It is more likely that this figure will increase in the future, rather than decrease," the article states.

What are the reasons for Russia's "almost inevitable" victory?

"Welt" correspondent Marie Droste analyzed the current situation in Ukraine in five points:

- First, it became clear that the USA, Germany and other members of the North Atlantic Alliance are more afraid of the spread of the conflict on the territory of the Alliance than they are for the security of the West due to Russia's territorial conquest in Ukraine. The West suffers from a kind of self-intimidation and supports Ukraine only to the extent that it does not capitulate immediately.

- Second, Russia has destroyed 60 to 70 percent of Ukraine's critical infrastructure to date. It seems that Kyiv will not receive enough air defense systems such as IRIS-T, NASAMS air defense systems and patriot systems from the West to stop the Russians. On the contrary, the previous miserable deliveries of weapons from the West are something like "carte blanche" for the Russian Armed Forces, which still have a huge arsenal of missiles and drones.

- Third, Russia is trying to destroy Western precision weapons with huge amounts of its weapons. Russia has enough resources for that. This primarily applies to tanks. According to data from the London-based think tank International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), Russia has more than 4,000 combat-ready tanks. This not only poses a major threat to Western Leopard tanks, but also gives Russia the ability to go on the offensive at any moment.

- Fourth, Ukraine is running out of soldiers. Now at least the eighth wave of mobilization is underway in the country, men over 60 are already being sent to the front. Russia will soon send a new contingent of 200,000 people to the front. They claim that 500,000 more soldiers will be sent by summer. Moscow has a mobilization reserve of almost 30 million people.

- Fifth, it is possible that, for the above reasons, Russia will emerge from this conflict not only as a military winner with territorial gains, but also as a political winner. Ukraine's NATO membership after a cease-fire or peace talks will be ruled out for the foreseeable future, and joining the European Union will take, at best, much longer than Kyiv wants.

"Now the West's efforts are focused on the imminent conclusion of a truce, although it is not spoken about aloud. The result will be an amputated Ukraine," concludes the author of the article, as reported by Sputnik.