Russia’s improved economic fortunes will lead to “stronger military recruitment and procurement than previously anticipated,” said Nick Reynolds, research fellow for land warfare at the Royal United Services Institute in London. Still, “Ukrainian military adaptation may allow them to continue to minimize their own casualties while inflicting heavy losses on Russia’s ground forces, and to hold the line through the summer,” he said.

Nick Reynolds

Research Fellow, Land Warfare

Even if an operation to seize the island were to go flawlessly, it may change little for the US position in the Iran war. “The big question,” Nick Reynolds, of the Royal United Services Institute in London, said, “is what then?”

Nick Reynolds

Research Fellow, Land Warfare

Nick Reynolds, a research fellow in land warfare at the Royal United Services Institute, said Russia “pretty consistently” penetrates the Ukrainian front line. “The Russian military is operating at a scale where it can and does put pressure across the front in all places,” Reynolds said. He added that the fortress belt towns in the east are strategically important because the region’s topography grants the high ground to whoever controls them... “Ukraine is under huge amounts of pressure,” said Reynolds. “It’s a much smaller country, so while both sides have manpower issues Ukraine is feeling it much more acutely. Although the Russians are losing more personnel, it is comparatively easy for them to be replaced.”

Nick Reynolds

Research Fellow, Land Warfare