Ukraine from offensive to defensive

Abstract: Russia and Ukraine have been fighting along a 640-mile frontline for the last
three years of war, and Russia has captured over 112,000 square kilometres of
Ukrainian territory through a frozen conflict. Ukraine has been failed either to take back
its territory or halt the tempo of Russian war machine despite tremendous Western
economic and military support. President Zelenskky can be required to pay hundreds of
billions of dollars in war reparations to the White House via a critical mining agreement
when Russia has just captured a coal mining town in Toretsk. The conflict evolved into a
natural resources war for controlling mines and minerals in Ukraine and the strategic
location of the Black Sea. Russia's war machine is now relentlessly operating on the
eastern and southern fronts of Ukraine, but this conflict has evolved into a horizontal
proliferation and prevails over diplomatic and military relationships among the
countries.

Introduction
Warfare, a practice steeped in history, has evolved into a profoundly costly and intricate
endeavour in modern era, leading to the tragic loss of invaluable human
lives and the destruction of public, private and military infrastructure. It drains vital
national financial resources intended for military advancement, depletes geological
resources like crude oil for flying warplanes and diesel for running tanks, trucks, and
railways, disrupts trade relationships between the warring nations and erodes the
cultural and diplomatic ties that previously flourished.
On 24th February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, and the NATO alliance came under
severe stress to offer military, financial, and structural aid to Ukraine. As the Russia-Ukraine war has now entered third year. Both sides suffered hundreds of thousands of
casualties and lost valuable military equipment.
This conflict evolved into a contemporary theatre of drone warfare. Additionally, many
Ukrainians and some military experts raise hopes that the Biden administration's
decision to allow Ukraine to use long-range ATACMS inside Russia would change the
battlefield dynamics. However, the ground realities still remained harsh and
unfavourable for Ukrainians. This essay will talk about the recent developments on
different fronts of the war in Ukraine and shed light on the latest Russian military gains.
It will also look at whether the use of long-range ATACMS against military targets on the
mainland has slowed down the Russian offensives and stopped their small gains in
strategic heights of Chasiv Yar and the surrounding Pokrovsk. Finally, it will ask why
Ukraine can't join NATO soon and whether peace negotiations in Riyadh would facilitate
Ukraine's swap of the held salient in the Kursk Oblast for a portion of the over 112,000
square kilometres of Ukrainian territory under Russian control.