Is it me or has the media reports taken a turn and pointing to Russia getting closer to winning this? Lack of support due to USA's other war is often cited.
I think it's just you man. The situation on the ground appears to be that Russia holds a small advantage on the front line and continues to meat wave (1300 casualties confirmed yesterday alone) but takes small amounts of ground for the expenditure of blood (with the somewhat regular Ukrainian counter attack taking territory back on parts of the front the Russians cycle men and material away from to support a new meat wave). But the Ukrainian strategy shifted heavily about 6-8 months ago to hammering local logistics and deep strikes at critical industries to cut Russia's ability to provide materials for the war at all.
I'd be the first to admit that my media diet is Ukraine centric from a source standpoint, but there have always been voices in the Ukie media sphere who have pointed out the problems and concerns about Ukraine's war effort (mobilization is very unpopular, conditions at the front for soldiers is a major point of contention with leadership, etc), it's not just a bag of people pumping ukie propaganda, it's war and shit isn't sweet. But the volume of videos showing big, expensive, difficult or impossible to replace infrastructure burning to the ground in Russia is undeniable at this point. Similarly, pro Kremlin milbloggers are openly admitting that Crimea is past the point of salvage for them, they just can't keep their forces supplied due to Ukie focus on destroying everything that rolls on the one highway linking Crimea with Russia's supply chain and that it's a matter of time before force exhaustion there without a massive change that doesn't appear to be coming. On the other side, Ukraine just got a huge multi year loan from the EU that will allow them to not only finance the war, but to strategically plan 2-3 years of war in advance, something they've never been able to do so far as the aid has been more or less last minute and piecemeal.
There are legit challenges Ukraine still faces, mostly surrounding manpower, morale, etc. But the outcome of the recent political drama with Drapatyi taking over the armed forces even managed to turn that into a net good.
Fwiw, as we inch closer to Russia's force exhaustion, I think we're likely to see pro ukraine sources highlighting Ukraine's challenges more and more. Not because Ukraine is close or even closer to capitulation, but instead that keeping support high (domestic and foreign financial/military) will be essential to reaching the finish line. Nothing will bleed support faster than starting to dance before you're actually in the end zone.
