Six months of war: Ukraine regains initiative, but makes no push

After six months of war, Russia has failed to overrun Ukraine, install a puppet government in Kyiv, or even fully conquer the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts in the east – its pared-back goal.

Ukraine’s battlefield successes also forced Moscow to lift a Black Sea blockade of Ukrainian food exports, bringing the assaulted country as much as $30bn this year.

On the other hand, Ukraine is also seemingly unable to score the decisive victory it wants – the reconquest of all the territory Russia…