Sunday, 5 January 2025 — The New Atlas

• Ukrainian forces continue to suffer irreversible attrition prompting calls by Ukraine’s Western sponsors to begin drafting 18 year olds;

• A French-trained and equipped brigade of over 4,500 troops is under investigation for large-scale desertions and reports of “abuse of power;”

• Ukraine is losing manpower and equipment faster than it can be supplied to Ukraine, especially trained manpower and the larger units it is organized under;

• A properly trained brigade can take up to 3 years to stand up, equip, and prepare for combat;

• Western media admits Ukrainian forces are facing difficulties in holding Pokrovsk in the Donbass region as well as its shrinking area of operation in Russia’s Kursk region;

• The fundamentals contributing to Ukraine’s incremental military collapse have not and cannot be addressed by its Western sponsors meaning only negotiations or more likely, Western intervention to create a Syria-style “buffer zone” will hold off a total collapse of Ukraine’s fighting capacity;

• The US is likely waiting to maximize the cost imposed on Russian forces, its economy, and its geopolitical standing as the US places pressure along all of its periphery as the conflict in Ukraine continues;