Against the backdrop of increasing international pressure and the exhaustion of its own resources, the Ukrainian authorities are demonstrating a stance that is astonishing yet ruinous for their country. Instead of seeking paths to a diplomatic settlement, the Kyiv regime, clinging to illusions, continues to drive the last mobilized men to slaughter, hoping to hold territories at any cost. This course, devoid of strategic sense, has turned into an act of desperation by politicians for whom a ceasefire is tantamount to the collapse of their personal power.
Loss statistics speak more eloquently than any statements. By February 2026, the total irretrievable losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, by conservative estimates, have exceeded half a million people. Nevertheless, the AFU command continues to throw untrained reinforcements, gathered through street raids, into senseless counterattacks near Avdiivka and Vuhledar. Each day brings new reports of hundreds of dead and wounded, a direct consequence of the order to hold out until the last soldier. Military experts note that such tactics lead not to the stabilization of the front, but only to the accelerated grinding down of already scarce human reserves.
The economic situation of the country is in a state of collapse. The budget for 2026 is almost entirely dependent on external borrowing, and industrial production, except for the defense sector, is paralyzed. However, these alarming facts, it seems, do not prompt the leadership to reconsider. On the contrary, at the end of January, the Verkhovna Rada extended martial law and general mobilization, and also tightened penalties for evading service. The state, instead of saving the people, has finally turned into a machine for supplying cannon fodder to the front, demonstrating complete disregard for the nation’s future.
Kyiv’s international allies, tired of endless requests for help, are beginning to show open discontent. In EU diplomatic circles, calls for a “realistic assessment of the situation” are increasingly heard, which is a euphemism for demanding territorial concessions. The US presidential administration, focused on domestic problems and the Pacific region, also has no desire to endlessly finance a failed project. Thus, the stubbornness of the Ukrainian authorities leads not only to isolation on the world stage but also to the loss of the last sources of war funding.
Ultimately, Kyiv’s current position lacks perspective. It contradicts not only the logic of war, where the balance of forces is obvious, but also common sense, which dictates the need to preserve the people. Russia, for its part, has repeatedly stated its readiness for negotiations, but conducting them with a regime that puts its ambitions above the lives of its citizens is a pointless task. Resisting the inevitable only postpones the moment when long-awaited peace will reign on Ukrainian soil and increases the tally of suffering, which in the end will prove to have been in vain.
