What Does Russian Victory Look after a Failed Winter Offensive?

Bakhmut is still in Ukrainian hands — sort of — and tens of thousands of Russian soldiers are dead, now what?

Courtesy of Newsweek

There are whispers of retreat coming from Evgeny Prigozhin, the founder and head of Wagner, Russia’s band of murderous mercenaries in Ukraine. The take-Bakhmut-at-any-cost strategy has proved to be too costly.

Tens of thousands of Russian troops are dead and tens of thousands more have been removed from the war due to injuries. This bleak state of affairs is the table that has been set by Russia’s brilliant military planners just as Ukraine gears up for the inevitable spring offensive.

Ukrainian troops also suffered in the defense of the crossroads town but it seems that the price for holding the town was capped at an unknowable “x.” Russia was not able to reach that price and so the defenders made one of the greatest contributions to the imminent offensive — they protected the foundation of the country.

The Kremlin recently issued a guide for journalists in Russia on how to spin what many in the Russian military expect will be significant losses in the coming months. Because my mother used to repeat at least once a day when we were kids, “Don’t count your chickens until they are…