Ukraine's offensive is stalling and the West owns a portion of the blame

After two months, Ukraine's counteroffensive is not achieving the level of success Western observers expected. This reflects less of Kyiv's performance and more of the failure of expectation management by Western political leaders and policymakers. What is needed now is not a defeatist attitude, but a more sober reflection on the objectives of Ukraine's counteroffensive, the analytical shortcomings of the definition of success and a determination of what comes next. To be clear, Ukraine is encountering stiff resistance, perhaps even more than it expected. Yet, the analytical framework for Ukraine's counteroffensive was, in effect, rigged from the start. Save for…