Western intelligence warned of a key moment in the war that will determine the winner

CNN writes about this, citing senior sources in NATO and Western intelligence.

The interlocutors of the publication see three possible scenarios for the further development of events in Ukraine:

• Russia will continue to make progress in two key eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk regions.
• The fighting will reach a stalemate, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides and a slowly developing crisis that will deplete the global economy.
• Russia may reconsider its military objectives, declare victory and try to keep hostilities to a minimum. This scenario, however, is rated by sources as the least likely.

I am sure that if Ukraine is not strong enough, they will move on,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Tuesday, trying to urge the West to send more weapons faster. “We showed them our strength. And it is important that our Western partners demonstrate this strength together with us.

Western military aid, he said, "must come faster" if Ukraine's allies are to thwart Russia's territorial ambitions.

At the same time, the prolongation of hostilities raises the cost of the consequences of this war for Western governments. The US government, among other things, is concerned that the flow of weapons transferred to Ukraine has led to the depletion of national stocks important for the country's own defense. In addition, officials say, rising inflation and energy prices are beginning to affect ordinary US and European citizens, and Western media attention to day-to-day fighting is waning.

Western officials generally believe that Russia is in a better position in the east, based solely on mass. Still, "Russian progress is not a foregone conclusion," one senior Biden administration official told the publication.

Operations on the front line, due to massive artillery shelling, have turned into a "war of attrition", in which each side suffers heavy losses, writes CNN.

Russia has lost about a third of its ground forces, and US intelligence believes it will be difficult for it to make any serious gains without full mobilization, a step that is undesirable and politically dangerous for Putin and he does not want to take.