Illia Kabachynskyi

As world leaders gather at the UN General Assembly to discuss a potential path to peace in Ukraine, Russia is pounding Kyiv with jet-powered drones. In the heart of the Ukrainian capital, one building after another is being reduced to rubble.

For 11 years, Russia has tried and failed to fully capture the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Now Vladimir Putin wants Ukraine to hand over what his military still cannot take. And with Operation Vivaldi underway, Russian forces are losing ground.

Operation Vivaldi is pushing Russian forces back in the Donetsk sector, with Ukraine taking control of more than 100 square kilometers and proving it can successfully conduct offensive operations and drive Russian troops from their positions.

Russia’s losses in Ukraine have surpassed 1.5 million troops killed and wounded—a scale unseen in any Russian war since World War II. More striking still is the pace: Moscow is burning through its army faster, not slower, as the war grinds on.

Russian oil helps bankroll its war in Ukraine, allowing Moscow to pour roughly $150 billion a year into its military. For Ukraine, cutting that revenue is a way to make the war too expensive for the Kremlin to continue and bring Putin to the negotiating table.

For Russian soldiers sent to the front in Ukraine, becoming a casualty increasingly means death. Ukrainian commanders say as many as 70% of Russian troops lost on the battlefield are now killed rather than wounded.