After Congress in a joined session cheered on Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday, it's perhaps worth taking a more sober look at the state of the war in Ukraine. Zelensky tried to keep a wavering public engaged, and asked for more support and assistance in Ukraine's fight against Russia. That he even travelled to the U.S. in person may be a sign that Zelensky knows how bad the situation has become.

In Ukraine, the Russian partial mobilisation and addition of untrained and unequipped soldiers to its regular troops in the battlefileds of the Donbas helped end the impetus of the Ukrainian offensive of late autum and brought their movement to a standstill. Neither in the north nor in the south are Ukrainian forces capable to push Russian troops back. At the same time Russian military has fortified defensive positions. Mariupol is one of two "cities" Russia aims to convert into a military seaport for reinforcements. For Russia, the statitc trench warfare in Bakhmut is not about capturing Bakhmut itself but to bind Ukrainian forces. In the meantime new Russian recruits are said to be trained in Belarus.

To bring the Ukrainian offensive to a standstill, untrained soldiers were sufficient. The trench warfare will last over the winter. In February up to 300,000 new armed forces are expected to launch a new attack on Ukraine. Until then, Russia will keep destroying Ukraine's infrastructure.

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