One contributor rejects a viewer's suggestion that Russia is deliberately slowing its advance to avoid a Western nuclear response. The proposed explanation begins with Russian misjudgment of Ukraine's readiness and subsequent changes in strategic initiative. Speaking explicitly as a personal assessment in May 2025, the contributor considers both belligerents to have lost: Ukraine is expected to surrender territory, while Russia is judged to have suffered severe military, economic, and diplomatic damage despite possible territorial gains. Territorial control is only one measure of the outcome in this assessment.
Notable Point · 1:55:05-1:56:26
A May 2025 assessment of the costs of the Ukraine war
A contributor's contemporaneous assessment weighs possible territorial outcomes against the wider costs of the war to both belligerents.