With cold season around the corner, assessing Ukrainian counteroffensive should be a sobering exercise

On July 23 of this year, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Ukraine has "already taken back about 50% of what was initially seized." That was two months ago. Now, with cold months around the corner, things are likely to slow down. To assess the cost and benefit of this counteroffensive at this point will be a reasonable thing to do to be able to understand how this war will go for the next months and years, unless a non-military solutions is reached of course.

Here is a look at the gains on the ground, as reported by pro-Ukrainian sources. Looking at Russia recent gains and comparing them to Ukrainian gains, it looks like Russia has gained more ground compared to Ukrainian gains.

This is bad news for those who think a military solution to this conflict is possible.