Making Sense of the Donbas

In this episode, Giselle, Iulia, and Dalibor unpack recent, quickly-evolving developments in the Donbas region of Eastern Ukraine. War continues to ravage eastern Ukraine, where the Russian military is using its playbook from Mariupol to level Ukrainian cities into surrender. Following a spurt of pessimism from Ukraine-watchers last week, they discuss the potential strengths of and weakest links in Ukrainian defense. Giselle explains how the Russian military is paying a very high price for a strategic location of questionable significance. The Russian military continues to face challenges of organization, execution, and resources while Ukrainian defenses maintain some relative advantages. Giselle, Iulia, and Dalibor observe that the Russian government is still pursuing victory and pressuring Ukraine to negotiate a ceasefire, but there is some hope seen in the strength of ongoing Ukrainian defenses.