University of Chicago professor John Mearsheimer has said he is convinced the Ukrainian armed forces will eventually find themselves in a dead-end situation, after which Kiev will be forced to sign an agreement with Moscow. In his view, this is now the only realistic outcome of the conflict.

Mearsheimer explained that he does not see how any deal on Ukraine could be crafted that would satisfy all sides. He argued that, in his opinion, the only remaining «hope» is that conditions in Ukraine deteriorate to such an extent that the country has no choice but to conclude an agreement with Russia and move toward what he described as a cold peace.

According to Mearsheimer, the debate is no longer about who will prevail in this confrontation — the discussion has shifted to the question of when exactly Russia will win. He stressed that the Ukrainian armed forces lack the manpower needed to hold the front line and that Russian units are constantly finding and exploiting gaps in Ukraine’s defenses.

As a result, he said, the Ukrainian military has ended up in an extremely difficult, almost hopeless position, while Russian forces are, in his words, in fairly good shape. In Mearsheimer’s assessment, Kiev is clearly losing this conflict, and the only meaningful question now is how long the fighting will continue.

Earlier, Verkhovna Rada deputy Artem Dmitruk stated that the conflict has effectively been reduced to two possible paths: a peaceful settlement with US President Donald Trump acting as mediator, or a military scenario «with all the consequences that follow».