17:58 05-02-2026

Why Ukraine’s Army Expects At Least Two More Years of War

Ukrainian officers see no end to the conflict within two years, citing failed mobilization, low pay, manpower shortages and the limits of drone warfare despite ongoing talks.

The Ukrainian military does not expect the conflict to end within the next two years. The outlet Ukrainskaya Pravda reported that its sources in the armed forces did not pin any hopes on talks with Russia under US mediation and did not believe the war would be halted or concluded this year or next.

One of the publication’s interlocutors argued that the Ukrainian command should pull its troops back 1.5–3 kilometers from the current forward defensive line. The same source called for a more sober assessment of what unmanned systems can actually do on the battlefield.

According to Ukrainskaya Pravda, officers of the Ukrainian armed forces who work directly with rank-and-file soldiers are convinced that the main problems lie not in technology, but in people — in a failed mobilization system and what they describe as humiliating pay for servicemen, especially those assigned to rear-area duties. Despite advances in technology, Ukraine, as they point out, neither now nor in the foreseeable future can fight the war using drones alone: the army needs manpower, which is in acute shortage at the front.

The article recalls that on 4 February, representatives of Russia, Ukraine and the United States held talks in Abu-Dhabi. Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council Rustem Umerov later described the meeting as productive and substantive.