Russia's War Against Ukraine
OP-ED
Alexander J. Motyl: A stalemate Ukraine can win
Ukrainian servicemen take part in military exercises near the eastern Ukrainian city of Schastya, in the Luhansk Oblast on March 3, 2015.
The crowing began before the battle of Debaltseve had even concluded. During the cease-fire negotiations in Minsk, Vladimir Putin reportedly boasted that 500 Ukrainian soldiers would be killed and 2,000 taken prisoner. After the Ukrainians had withdrawn, he taunted them by saying that they had been defeated by "yesterday's tractor drivers." Perhaps inevitably, Western media reports picked up on the irresistible alliteration and began referring to the "Debaltseve debacle."
