Russia’s war against Ukraine should “climax” by the summer of 2023, according to a retired US military official.
Retired Major John Spencer has said he does not share the view that the war will drag on for years as others have predicted, due to Ukraine’s strength on the battlefield and support from Western allies.
“I think it is clear that Putin will not give up his goals easily. He doesn’t care how many Russian soldiers die,” Spencer said. “But the Russian army is in trouble, very big trouble. Putin wants to slow down the war. He needs time to give at least some military training to the thousands of people who were forced into military service.”
“At this point, I don’t see any direction in which the Russian army can advance. Their only goal is to keep what they got, and I don’t think they will succeed either.”
While Hilary Appel, a professor at “Claremont McKenna College” in Claremont, California, said that Russia has other options for military support, such as Iran and North Korea.
Iran’s drones have a significant impact on the war, she said, on the battlefield and in the calculations of other countries such as Israel, which has shown restraint due to its own strategic considerations.
“… But the Russian army’s poor logistics and an ineffective command structure, combined with well-trained and highly motivated Ukrainian troops, succeeded in halting the advance and de-occupying the occupied territory.”