Bloodlands

I have no idea what is *really* going on in Ukraine right now. 

Below, I link to two articles which claim that Russia has suffered major losses (one third of its soldiers either killed or wounded) and is having trouble filling the man-power shortage. However, I also link to a third piece pointing out that the Ukrainian military has suffered heavy causalties, too. This per Zelensky himself. Who is telling the truth? If both sides had major losses of this kind, the war in Ukraine is an absolute carnage! 

Add to that civilians being killed, and millions of refugees.  There have also been recent news report (not linked here) according to which the Russians (who are supposedly "losing") are really continuing their offensive in the Donbass, or entrenching themselves. 

So no, this isn´t over yet. Not by a long shot. Note that even if we assume that Putin´s original goal was to take Kiev and instal a Yanukovich-style puppet government, "only" taking the Donbass and the areas north of the Crimea is a perfectly tolerable "plan B" from a Russian viewpoint, especially if the Russians de facto block Ukraine´s Black Sea ports, since this would make Ukraine an economic and (perhaps) political basket case. The West, by contrast, presumably needs a stable and prosperous Ukraine to get a permanent geopolitical bridgehead in post-Soviet space. 

Note also that Russia could use chemical and (smaller) nuclear weapons in Ukraine to make up for any man-power shortfall due to corruption, war-weariness, or whatever.

This war could drag out for years, or even escalate. Unless something really unexpected happens. Say, a coup in Moscow. Or even a coup in DC...

Russia scrambles for soldiers amid man-power shortage in Ukraine 

"We have to buy everything": Russian soldiers under-equipped in Ukraine

Up to 100 Ukrainian troops could be be dying in Donbas each day, says Zelenskyi