It will end in stalemate, which I now think was Putin’s intent from the get-go,' Myers said. 'Strategically, this war was lost by both sides before it started. But Myers argues that Russia's military tactics have been 'completely inconsistent with conquest.' The agenda was, is and will always be to keep Ukraine out of NATO at all costs, he said. Steven Myers, an Air Force veteran who served on the State Department's Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy under two secretaries of State, told USA TODAY that one of the West’s narratives is that Putin planned to conquer Ukraine and continue west if not stopped. Some experts, however, say a stalemate is the most likely scenario.

Western officials said a surge in troops and firepower was underway in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia province, and Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged Thursday that “hostilities have intensified significantly.” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, asked this week about the progress Ukraine has made, stressed that 'it's not a stalemate. The Ukraine military's intensified push to regain territory seized by Russia could jump-start Kyiv's slow-developing counteroffensive, but some experts say the war won't be won on the battlefield anyway.

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