News Snapshot:
It is clear now that there will be no sweeping gains from Ukraine’s counteroffensive. While it has not failed, it has in no way resembled the kind of swashbuckling victory hoped for by optimists. This should be no great surprise. It was always going to be a slog – a series of “bite and hold” operations; more first world war western front than some latterday blitzkrieg. Western officials now fairly bluntly state that there will be no breakthrough of well dug-in Russian lines any time soon. The Ukrainians are also facing a developing threat in the east, as the Russians...
