(CN) — After more than five months of war, Ukraine continues to fight hard against Russia's invasion, but there are signs that Kyiv's forces and political leadership are strained by serious problems as the country girds for a brutal winter and the possibility Russia will push to capture more Black Sea territories.
On Thursday, hopes for Ukrainian victories before the end of the year in the southern territories along the Black Sea were dampened by reports that Kyiv's forces may need to postpone a counteroffensive until next year due to a lack of Western weapons.
Additionally, in recent days Russian forces and allied pro-Russian Ukrainian troops have increased their attacks on Ukrainian defenses in the bloody battlefields of Donetsk, an eastern region where the worst of the fighting is taking place.
Ukrainian defenses of several towns and cities there are coming under immense artillery assaults while Russian forces push for control of Kharkiv, which lies to the north. Russia has made small, but potentially key, advances in recent days around Bakhmut, a city of about 72,000 people located between Donetsk and Luhansk, the main cities in Donbas which have been controlled by separatists since 2014.
The front lines in Ukraine run for more than 500 miles from the northern border with Russia near Kharkiv all the way to the Black Sea in the south. Combat is fierce at many places along this “line of contact.”
Both sides also continue to launch missiles into civilian locations. Thursday and Friday were both awful days with reports that eight civilians were killed by Ukrainian shelling in the center of Donetsk city and that Russian shelling killed eight people in Toretsk, a city under Ukrainian control.
More than 350 children have been killed since the Russian invasion started on Feb. 24 and that number grew on Thursday after an aspiring 12-year-old ballerina was killed with her grandmother in the attack on Donetsk.
But it's not just the situation on the battlefield that is worrisome for Ukraine. The country is broke and reliant on Western funds to keep the country running for basic needs. In recent days, Kyiv has issued promises to desperate soldiers, teachers, pensioners and others who depend on public funds that their money is coming.
In April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country needed about $7 billion a month in support to make up for losses incurred by the war.
Ukraine is receiving vast sums of aid, but still the country is struggling with millions of refugees, skyrocketing inflation, gas shortages due to Russian cuts, a devastated economy and a plethora of other problems brought about by the war. Already before the invasion, Ukraine was one of Europe's poorest and most corrupt countries.
At the same time, ferocious political tensions inside Ukraine are emerging. Across the Europe Union, meanwhile, the political atmosphere risks becoming acrid as the bloc reels from gas shortages caused by Russia's move to cut off supplies in retaliation against the EU for imposing a regime of sanctions that amounts to economic warfare against Russia.
In recent weeks, Zelenskyy's government has taken a number of controversial steps as it clamps down on dissent and tries to consolidate its power. He's targeted some of the richest and most influential oligarchs, accused his own government members of treason and pushed laws to weaken labor rights, allow mass privatization and crack down on critical media outlets.
Ukraine's image has suffered setbacks in recent days too.
On Thursday, Amnesty International issued a report that criticized Ukraine's army for using civilian buildings – including schools and hospitals – as military bases and for launching attacks from civilian areas. Such tactics are deemed to illegally endanger civilians and civilian infrastructure.
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