Russia's military will soon be forced to end its offensive in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine because it is coming to the end of its combat capabilities, according to Western military experts and intelligence prediction sources.
A senior Western official, commenting on the condition of anonymity to The Washington Post, said the time is coming when Russia's "tiny advances" become "unsustainable" in relation to what the action costs, and Russia will need to make a "significant pause" to restore its capabilities.
Russia, however, has made major advances in recent days, including capturing Sievierodonetsk on Friday, marking the largest town to be taken since the current Donbas offensive started almost three months ago, and the Russian military is close to capturing Lysychansk, which would give it control of one of the two provinces that comprise the Donbas region.
But according to chatter being picked up on Russia's Telegram channels and from information from Ukraine's Deputy Defense Secretary Minister Anna Malyar, the Russian military is under pressure to bring the Luhansk district the control of Russia by Sunday.
The advances, though, will take large amounts of artillery shells and other ammunition and the senior Western official told the Post that no military in the world could sustain that pace for long. Also, Russia is losing large amounts of soldiers and equipment and might not be able to remain on the attack long, the official said.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson earlier this week told the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung earlier this week that Russia will be able to continue its strong push for only a few more months, but then it could "come to a point when there is no longer any forward momentum because it has exhausted its resources."
Even sources inside Russia are noting the growing shortage of manpower.
"Russia does not have enough physical strength in the zone of the special military operation in Ukraine," wrote Russian military blogger Yuri Kotyenok on his Telegram account, estimating Russia needs a half-million troops to reach its goals and that would be possible only through a large mobilization of troops.
Experts had already predicted Russia's capabilities would have peaked by summer, but the country has recruited contract soldiers and reservists to boost the troops and has been pulling tanks out of storage to use in Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials.
Ukraine, though is also hurting, as its military is almost out of the Soviet-era ammunition its weapons use. However, Western weapons are arriving at a time when Russia is using old supplies, retired Gen. Ben Hodges, a former commander of U.S. forces in Europe, commented, and he thinks Ukraine will win the war.
The supplies of Western weapons are already growing in Ukraine, with French Caesar howitzers being shown in videos and German Panzerhaubitze 2000 howitzers being delivered.
The first shipment of U.S. HIMARS systems, which will allow Ukraine to hit targets 50 miles behind the Russian lines, has also been delivered, but there is no report they are being used yet.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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