War in Ukraine

Since the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war on February 24, 2022, which began largely due to strife caused by the Russian annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, both sides have experienced shifting fortunes, with recent changes now favoring Russia. A critical development that is currently unfolding is that Ukraine will soon head into its third wartime winter, during which they will face difficulty maintaining energy supplies. The situation has been made even worse as they have lost the city of Vuhledar, which is located in the highly contested Donetsk oblast. The loss of the city may cause energy issues for Ukraine, since Vuhledar and the surrounding region is rich in coal.

Ukraine decided to withdraw due to the risk of encirclement by additional forces Russia was able to send, highlighting the difference in manpower between the two nations. Most of the city was successfully evacuated, with about 100 people remaining in the city when it was captured.

The war has become one of attrition, which is evident in battles such as the one of Vuhledar. Russia attempted an assault on the city in February 2023. However, Ukraine was able to defend up until October of 2024. Ukrainian defenses have been gradually weakened, with Russian drones and aviation bombs being important factors in the exhaustion of Ukrainian forces and the eventual victory for Russia.

In addition, this shows the amount of resources Russia has to expend. There is a disparity in manpower, as well as military equipment such as planes and drones. With the U.S. presidential election coming up and the amount of aid Ukraine will receive possibly changing, the attritional aspect of the war is one of the most critical areas of Ukraine’s war effort.

This is a trend of continued Russian advance in the region, which is why Ukraine launched an offensive into the Kursk oblast in Russia on the 6th of August, aiming to divert Russian forces from where Ukraine is facing a high amount of pressure. Ukraine continues to hold the land it captured in the Kursk offensive, with Kyiv claiming that it holds about 500 square miles of Russian territory.

However, Russian forces are still gradually gaining land in Eastern Ukraine despite the earlier offensive. With the fall of Vuhledar, Russia could advance even further west. In a statement by the UK defense ministry on X, “It is likely that Russian forces will attempt to continue advancing beyond Vuhledar in the coming weeks. To the west, one likely objective is the town of Velyka Novosilka, Zaporizhzhia on the TO509 highway.” It can be seen that even with the Kursk offensive, Russian pressure persists, with more defeats making the possibility of Ukraine keeping land it once had less and less likely.

Overall, the limited resources Ukraine has are slowly being depleted in a war of attrition, even with aid received. Meanwhile, the larger population and military resources available to Russia has allowed it to continue advancing, although their gains come at a cost due to the slow and grinding nature of the conflict across the front. As a result, Russia currently holds the advantage, and if it maintains its upper hand, it could lead to Ukraine’s defeat. Should that happen, the nation could face significant loss of territory or complete occupation of all their land.

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ABOUT LOGAN

I am Logan and I am in the 10th grade. My interests in journalism are informative articles. I have a particular interest in writing about major world events and politics. In addition, I have an interest in writing game reviews, since I enjoy playing video games in my free time. I enjoy the FPS genre of games in particular. As a first-time journalist, I am excited to begin writing articles in Centner.