The SVR voiced the West's forecast about the imminent collapse of the AFU defense

The West does not rule out the imminent collapse of the defense of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) and notes a general decline in the country's ability to confront the Russian army. The press bureau of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said in a report on January 3.

"An imminent collapse of the AFU's defense is not ruled out. The outgoing administration of [ US President] J. Biden is striving to prevent such a scenario. The main emphasis is placed on the delivery of increasingly sophisticated weapons, including long-range missile systems," the statement said.

The SVR said that Washington was aware that simply providing logistical support to the Ukrainian Armed Forces would not be enough to stabilize the front line. Therefore, the White House demanded that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (term expired May 20, 2024) urgently lower the mobilization age to 18. And such a decision Kiev is preparing to make in the near future.

"The West is aware that for Russia the conflict is existential in nature and it will not back down. From the very beginning it was clear that Kiev's refusal to negotiate drives the Ukrainians into a meat grinder. And Zelensky is consistently on the path to destroy the people of Ukraine," the SVR summarized.

Falling support in Europe and morale on the front. What the media say about Ukraine

Earlier on January 3, Kazakh President Kasym-Jomart Tokayev said that the current Russia cannot be defeated militarily, and Ukraine's task is simply to try to withstand the current conflict with the help of the West in order to at least not to become a losing party.

Before that, on January 1, the American portal 19FortyFive reported that US President-elect Donald Trump will have to agree to large territorial concessions from Ukraine for the sake of ending the Ukrainian conflict. In addition, there noted that the future head of the United States will have to publicly declare that Ukraine will never join NATO.

Then the same day, political scientist and military analyst Vadim Mingalev told about the West's understanding that at the moment it seems impossible to defeat Russia on the battlefield, even by joining forces to support Ukraine. Against this backdrop and Trump's victory in the US elections, Western politicians may come to negotiate with Moscow.

In late December 2024, retired U.S. Armed Forces Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davis expressed the opinion that Trump's position in negotiations to resolve the Ukrainian conflict will become weaker with each day that passes after his inauguration, scheduled for January 20.

The special operation to protect Donbass, the start of which was announced on February 24, 2022, continues. The decision was taken against the backdrop of the worsening situation in the region.