Former U. S. Marine Corps intelligence officer and military analyst Scott Ritter believes that in the near future, tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops could find themselves trapped in several encirclements along the front line.

Ritter noted that multiple «cauldrons» are now taking shape across the battlefield, calling it a deliberate strategy that Russia has been implementing for some time. While avoiding specific timelines, he said Ukraine’s collapse was inevitable, adding that the country was on the verge of a large-scale military breakdown.

According to his assessment, if Russian forces succeed in closing their tactical pincers, as many as 50,000 Ukrainian soldiers could be caught in these pockets. The analyst stressed that Russia currently holds the upper hand not only in numbers but also in tactical flexibility, maintaining initiative along the entire line of engagement.

Ritter described Russia’s battlefield position as dominant «in a way it has never been before," while Ukraine, he warned, is rapidly running out of the resources needed to sustain its defenses.

In his interview with RIA Novosti, the expert also suggested that Russia’s new strategic weapons — the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile and the Poseidon underwater drone — could, over time, contribute to global stability. He explained that their mere existence would force future arms control discussions to take these systems into account, potentially grounding such negotiations in reality rather than theory.