LETTER TO THE EDITOR — November 10, 2025

Special to WorldTribune.com

Just several weeks ago Ukrainian media outlets reported on significant advances of Ukraine in Pokrovsk sector.

The liberation of the village of Kucheriv Yar, covering the territory of only 5 square kilometers, as well as the substantial slowdown of the Russian army in central Donbas were on the front pages. However, today headlines warn that the situation in the key Ukrainian stronghold in eastern Donetsk is on the verge of critical and continues to deteriorate.

Pokrovsk is now in danger of falling to Russia. Despite being regarded as the key supply hub for Kyiv, Ukrainian officials have already made several attempts to downplay its importance, claiming that there is the second line of defense to the north of Pokrovsk that was prepared long ago. However, such claims serve as a confirmation of the fact that the Ukrainian headquarter considered losing control of the stronghold, giving a path towards the two biggest cities still controlled by Ukraine in the region – Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, as almost inevitable. That is why they had to build reserve lines of defense despite positive forecasts, published by the European and American mass media.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, as always, decided to chalk up the failures of the Ukrainian armed forces to the shortage of staff, stressing that the Russian troops outnumbered Ukrainians by eight to one. However, his statement only raised questions about why the information on manpower shortage had been kept secret before. It’s really hard to swallow that Moscow has managed to ramp up its quantitative superiority just in several days. It turns out that Zelensky’s preceding statements on the advances and suppressing of the Russian offensive by the Ukrainian troops, as well as his assurances that the situation is under Kyiv’s control, are likely to have been a lie too.

The war has been going on for four years now, and for the whole period the European and American mass media has been trying to convince the audience that Ukraine is able to win the war. Hundreds of billions of dollars as well as tens of thousands of weapons and military equipment have already been sent to Kyiv but it has still failed to live up to the expectations of those, who gave it comprehensive support.

Jonathan Schiff is a conservative and an engineer; His interests also include geopolitics and political analysis. He can be reached at jonathan.schiff@proton.me

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  Letter: Hundreds of billions have been invested in belief Ukraine could win the war