Final Word from Wednesday, March 12, 2025

In Oct. of last year, the New York Times wrote about a new Ukrainian strategy of "trading space for Russian losses." The idea, according to Ukrainian military analyst Mykola Bielieskov, was to retreat from towns under attack after exacting the highest possible price on Russian personnel and materiel. At about the same time, on Sept. 23, Pres. Petr Pavel told journalists while at the U.N. in New York City that the cost in lives to Ukraine had already been enormous and that to reverse the balance of power would require not only a multifold increase in the efforts of all those supporting Ukraine, but also a significantly greater loss of life on the Ukrainian side. "Defeating Russia at the cost of the decimation of half of the Ukrainian population probably isn't a victory," he said. If a ceasefire is now declared, it will give both sides a chance to make a rough calculation of the human cost of one square meter (or kilometer) of Ukrainian territory, if that's how someone chooses to measure victory or defeat. [ Czech Republic United Nations New York City ]