he war in Ukraine, which many thought would be over in a matter of days or weeks, will reach four years on February 24, and it has no end in sight.
Russian President Putin continues to paint a picture of inevitable victory, despite the fact that Moscow hasn’t accomplished one of its strategic goals since beginning this “special military operation.”
On December 17, 2025, in a speech at the National Defence Control Center of the Russian Federation, Putin stated, “Our troops are advancing with confidence and grinding down the hostile forces, defeating enemy units, their groups of forces and reserves, including so-called elite formations trained in Western centers and equipped with modern foreign weaponry.”
Two days later, during his annual end-of-year question and answer session, Putin added that “ever since our forces drove the enemy from the Kursk Region, the strategic initiative has been firmly in the hands of the Russian Armed Forces. What does this mean? It means that our forces are advancing along the entire line of contact.”
How can Russia sustain these heavy losses and keep fighting indefinitely? And how have they adapted to these horrendous losses?
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