![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP25335623051289.jpg.jpg\")
Serhii Filimonov, the commander of the Da Vinci Wolves battalion, worried that a deal would give Russia everything it needed to attack again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think it would be nice for the Russians — to end the war, remove the sanctions, prepare for a new war and attack again,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t believe there can be peace before Russia is destroyed, or at least the leadership is changed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukraine\u2019s overstretched manpower<\/b><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Filimonov described how Russian troops had briefly entered the eastern town of Pokrovsk, a key logistics hub in the Donetsk region, but were pushed out. His brigade had managed to hold its stretch of the defensive line but were often let down by neighboring units filled with inexperienced recruits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Kremlin on Monday boasted that Russian troops captured the city after more than a year of fighting, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in Paris that fighting was still ongoing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A major breakthrough by Russian forces will depend on Ukraine\u2019s ability to increase and sustain its troop numbers, said American military analyst and academic Rob Lee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUkraine lacks manpower, lacks reserves,\u201d he said. \u201cAll it takes is for one Ukrainian brigade to really struggle, and then Russia can advance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Taras Chmut, a Ukrainian military expert and fundraiser, told public broadcaster Suspilne on Friday that many battalions on the front are made up of only 20 fighters, instead of the usual 400-800.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even though Ukraine may be mobilizing up to 30,000 recruits per month, many of them find a way out of serving or prove to be unfit to replace front-line troops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Key sites are still being held<\/b><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Nevertheless, Ukrainian forces are managing to hold their ground in places like Pokrovsk, as well as in Kupiansk and Vovchansk in the Kharkiv region \u2014 two sites on the front that Russia has been trying to capture for over a year, said Yurii Fedorenko commander of the Achilles UAV Brigade that is fighting in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Russia has poured tens of thousands of soldiers at the towns, he said, noting that its failure to capture them \u201ctestifies to the high motivation and resilience of the Ukrainian army.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week the fighting won\u2019t stop unless Ukraine withdraws troops from the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson \u2014 the four provinces Moscow illegally annexed in September 2022. Russian troops occupy only half of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, and two-thirds of Donetsk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The draft of a U.S.-Russia peace plan stipulated that Ukraine\u2019s army be limited and that Kyiv\u2019s forces must effectively withdraw from the rest of the Donetsk region. Zelenskyy has said since then that a subsequently revised version could be \u201cworkable,\u201d but it\u2019s unclear what will be in the final document.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lee, who regularly visits the front, said Russia is advancing at a faster pace in 2025 than the previous year, but it is not a given that Moscow would capture the remaining third of the Donetsk region in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWherever Russia advances, Ukraine kind of prioritizes defenses (and) they can hold for a long time, but (then) Russia advanced in other directions,\u201d Lee said, describing Moscow\u2019s progress through Donetsk by simultaneously pushing in multiple directions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From his muddy trench, Kelt ridiculed the proposal to reduce the size of Ukraine\u2019s military, saying it was tantamount to making it easier for Russia \u201cto kill you\u201d later rather than now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But sustaining an army of Ukraine\u2019s current size of just over 1 million would be nearly impossible without continued Western support. Since the war began in 2022, Ukraine has spent almost all its tax revenue on feeding, clothing, housing and arming its military. The rest of its expenditures \u2014 for health care, social programs, education, pensions and energy \u2014 have been financed by Western grants and loans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The European Union allocated $50 billion in aid from 2024 to 2027 as part of the Ukraine Facility Program, but Kyiv will need $83.4 billion for the military and $52 billion for the rest of the state expenditures for 2026 and 2027, said Glib Buriak, associate professor of economics at the Ukrainian-American Concordia University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ukraine\u2019s future finances \u2014 including its ability to maintain an army \u2014 depends on what the peace plan includes regarding Russia\u2019s frozen assets, said Buriak, noting the risk of a drop in aid if the war ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHow they will be managed will determine Ukraine\u2019s financial situation over the coming years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yehor Konovalov contributed reporting.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Amid peace talks, troops near the front believe that Russia remains determined to conquer Ukraine \u2014 either now, or with a fresh army in a few years’ time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":120029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":46,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,46,11,36],"tags":[8628],"coauthors":[3771],"class_list":["post-71210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-europe","category-global","category-newsletters","tag-ukraine"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"LUH2TTMUBFCNXMISTY45PDCGC4","arc_canonical_url":"\/global\/europe\/2025\/12\/02\/war-weary-ukrainian-troops-doubt-proposed-pact-will-bring-real-peace\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP25335623164727.jpg.jpg\")
Ukraine will still need Western aid<\/b><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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