{"id":1443,"date":"2025-05-20T09:56:03","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T13:56:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/?p=1443"},"modified":"2025-10-28T21:12:33","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T01:12:33","slug":"a-stoppable-force-and-a-movable-object-mutual-exhaustion-in-russia-and-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/2025\/a-stoppable-force-and-a-movable-object-mutual-exhaustion-in-russia-and-ukraine\/","title":{"rendered":"A Stoppable Force and a Movable Object: Mutual Exhaustion in Russia and Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<section class=\"w-screen px-6 cu-section cu-section--white ml-offset-center md:px-8 lg:px-14\">\n    <div class=\"space-y-6 cu-max-w-child-5xl  md:space-y-10 cu-prose-first-last\">\n\n            <div class=\"cu-textmedia flex flex-col lg:flex-row mx-auto gap-6 md:gap-10 my-6 md:my-12 first:mt-0 max-w-5xl\">\n        <div class=\"justify-start cu-textmedia-content cu-prose-first-last\" style=\"flex: 0 0 100%;\">\n            <header class=\"font-light prose-xl cu-pageheader md:prose-2xl cu-component-updated cu-prose-first-last\">\n                                    <h1 class=\"cu-prose-first-last font-semibold !mt-2 mb-4 md:mb-6 relative after:absolute after:h-px after:bottom-0 after:bg-cu-red after:left-px text-3xl md:text-4xl lg:text-5xl lg:leading-[3.5rem] pb-5 after:w-10 text-cu-black-700 not-prose\">\n                        A Stoppable Force and a Movable Object: Mutual Exhaustion in Russia and Ukraine\n                    <\/h1>\n                \n                                \n                                    \n\n<p>By <a href=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/cu-people\/neil-hauer\/\">Neil Hauer<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n                            <\/header>\n\n                    <\/div>\n\n            <\/div>\n\n    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2025\/05\/Lugansk-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"The entrance to Lugansk oblast in May 2022\" class=\"wp-image-1445\" srcset=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2025\/05\/Lugansk-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2025\/05\/Lugansk-512x384.jpg 512w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2025\/05\/Lugansk-320x240.jpg 320w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2025\/05\/Lugansk-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2025\/05\/Lugansk-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2025\/05\/Lugansk.jpg 2016w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The entrance to Lugansk oblast in May 2022 (Photo credits <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/NeilPHauer\">Neil Hauer<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>More than three years into Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the frontlines in the conflict have become increasingly stagnant. Constant high-intensity combat along a frontline hundreds of kilometres long has taken its toll on both Russian and Ukrainian forces. Heavy losses in manpower and materiel have degraded the ability of both sides to achieve significant breakthroughs in offensive operations, while the past 18 months of the war have been marked by near-constant Russian assaults against beleaguered Ukrainian defenders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The policy problem faced by Western decision-makers is to enable Ukraine to win this war of attrition against Russia &#8211; a goal that remains achievable. To do this, Western policymakers should embark on three key policies. Firstly, they should fund the ongoing expansion of Ukraine\u2019s domestic weapons manufacturing industry. Secondly, they should seek additional sources of artillery ammunition in the international arena for purchase and transfer to Ukraine\u2019s armed forces. Finally, Canada and other Western countries should aid Ukraine in reforming both the conditions and public image of military service in Ukraine\u2019s armed forces to make personnel recruitment more attractive and sustainable. By accomplishing these objectives, Ukraine can be placed in a position to exhaust and attrite Russia and, eventually, exploit new battlefield opportunities that will arise as a result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To read, download or print the full policy brief, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.canva.com\/design\/DAG3IDMaELU\/wxu8XNu8DmnJnYCIyaxGRQ\/edit?utm_content=DAG3IDMaELU&amp;utm_campaign=designshare&amp;utm_medium=link2&amp;utm_source=sharebutton\">click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Heavy losses in manpower and materiel have degraded the ability of both sides to achieve significant breakthroughs in offensive operations, while the past 18 months of the war have been marked by near-constant Russian assaults against beleaguered Ukrainian defenders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":1445,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[84,1,37,100,83],"tags":[137,35,42,43,78],"class_list":["post-1443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-european-security","category-news","category-policy-brief","category-russia","category-ukraine","tag-neil-hauer","tag-policy-brief","tag-russia","tag-ukraine","tag-war-in-ukraine"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/128"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1443"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2120,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1443\/revisions\/2120"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}