Exhausting the Russians has long been part of the plan for the Ukrainians, who began the conflict outgunned – but hoped Western weapons could eventually tip the scales in their favor. Ukraine’s Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said recently that Russian forces were firing 10 times more ammunition than the Ukrainian military. After a failed attempt at a lightning advance on the capital of Kyiv in the opening weeks of the war, Russian forces withdrew from many parts of northern and central Ukraine and turned their attention to the Donbas, a region of mines and factories where Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces since 2014.Will High cost of Russian gains in Ukraine limit new advances ?

