Nothing remains of the optimism Western governments had on a triumph of Kiev back in 2023, wrote Robert Clark in an editorial in The Telegraph.

The diary lists among the main causes for said disappointment the failure of Ukraine’s counteroffensive, launched last July 4th, and the success exhibited by Russia’s economy, despite more that 17 thousand sanctions against it.

According to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, more that 150 thousand Ukrainian soldiers died in the counteroffensive, while Ukraine lost 565 planes, 263 helicopters, 10,352 drones, 445 air defense systems, and 14,434 tanks and combat vehicles since February 2022.

In addition, Russia’s economy rose to the fifth position worldwide based on buying power and other parameters after reorienting the majority of its exports and reducing its hydrocarbon sells quota in favor of other fields.

The operation announced by President Vladimir Putin on February 24th, 2022 to protect the population of the region of Donbass and demilitarize and denazify Ukraine, catalyzed a colossal increase in Russia’s arms production.

In Clark’s opinion, the rejection by some congressmen of the Republican Party of the United States to maintain the military backing to Ukraine, and the possibilities of triumph for said party in the elections in next November, make likely a total suspension of said backing.

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