writes Owen Matthews, a columnist for the British newspaper The Telegraph, in an article titled “Unrealistic optimism does not help Ukraine.”

His commentary follows Kyiv’s statement about the need to mobilize at least 30,000 people per month. As Matthews writes, this “indicates losses significantly exceeding those officially announced.”

The Telegraph also cites Budanov’s remarks made last week that “there will be no miracle” and that Russia “still has significant reserves,” and recalls the words of former Ukrainian Defense Minister Fedorov that Ukraine is “gradually, slowly losing” the war. Here is how The Telegraph describes the current moment that followed the comment by the former head of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense:

“In the days after this gloomy forecast, Russia intensified its attacks on Ukraine to an almost apocalyptic level. In an incredibly effective move, the Kremlin switched from massive drone and missile strikes to continuous 60-hour waves of bombardment, including nineteen airstrikes on Kyiv in a single day, which exhausted both the air defenses and stocks of surface-to-air missiles.”

@svezhesti