Ukraine’s Desperate Hour: The World Needs a Russian Defeat
After one year of war, it looked like Putin was going to lead a weakened, humbled nation. Entering year three, he has a chance to break Western solidarity.
This is part two of a three-part series on the past, present and future of the war in Ukraine. Part one explores whether a different US strategy could have put Ukraine in a stronger position than it holds today. Part two examines the lessons and global impacts of the war. Part three analyzes how US and Ukrainian strategy will unfold in 2024 and after.
Since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Western analysts have tried to discern what that conflict means for the wider world. In the hopeful early months of the war — characterized by Ukrainian resilience, Russian incompetence and Western unity — it often seemed that the conflict was revealing the strength of the free world and the debility of its enemies.