The West's failure to send weapons to Ukraine puts Putin on the path to victory - Politico

If the situation at the front does not change soon, then Ukraine in its current form may remain a thing of the past, writes Politico. İt is noted that this not just that Ukraine’s forces are running out of ammunition. Western delays over sending aid mean the country is dangerously short of something even harder to supply than shells: the fighting spirit required to win.
The Ukrainian military privately acknowledges that more casualties are inevitable this summer. The only question is how serious they will be. After all, Vladimir Putin has perhaps never been so close to his goal, the publication notes.
As Politico points out, for a war of this magnitude, the scale of Western leaders' efforts to help Kyiv falls far short of their rapid-fire rhetoric. And it looks increasingly like Putin's bet that he can crush Ukrainian resistance and Western support may be paying off.
" Increasingly it looks as if Putin’s bet that he can grind down Ukrainian resistance and Western support might pay off.
Without a major step-change in the supply of advanced Western weapons and cash, Ukraine won’t be able to liberate the territories Putin’s forces now hold. That will leave Putin free to gnaw on the wounded country in the months or years ahead. Even if Russia can’t finish Ukraine off, a partial victory will leave Kyiv’s hopes of joining the EU and NATO stuck in limbo.
The ramifications of such an outcome will be serious for the world. Putin will claim victory at home, and, emboldened by exposing Western weaknesses, he may reinvigorate his wider imperial ambitions abroad. Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are especially fearful they are next on his hit list. China, already an increasingly reliable partner for Moscow, will see few reasons to alter its stance", Politico says.
Several senior officers who spoke to Politico on condition of anonymity painted a grim forecast that the front line could collapse this summer as Russia launches its expected offensive. Perhaps worse, they expressed fears that Ukraine's own resolve could be weakened as morale in the military was undermined by desperate shortages of supplies.