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Politics
Frank Ledwidge, Senior Lecturer in Military Strategy and Law, University of Portsmouth

Ukraine war: beware all the talk of 'breakthroughs' or 'gamechangers' – it's going to be a long, bloody and costly struggle

From some of the headlines of late, you might be forgiven for assuming that the worst was past for Ukraine’s assault troops. That recent advances by Ukrainian forces constitute “breakthroughs” or “breaches” and that it’s all downhill from here.

Ukraine has recently claimed to have taken a couple of small villages, Andriivka and Klishchiivka, near the totemic remnants of Bakhmut the city in eastern Ukraine where, since August 2022. So many on both sides have given their lives for so little ground. This latest success, apprently, is another “important breakthrough”.

But aren’t they all? Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, declares that the capture of ravaged, wrecked villages with pre-war populations of a few hundred are “significant” or “strategically important”.

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