William Taylor said Russia’s lack of military personnel will eventually end the war. Vladimir Putin is desperate to replenish troops lost on the Ukrainian frontline but will find that “Russian men are not interested in joining that fight,” a former US ambassador to Ukraine has told TVP World. William Taylor, Washington’s envoy to Ukraine under George W Bush and Barack Obama and chargé d’affaires to Kyiv during the first Trump administration, gave his views on the Russian president’s dilemma to the World News Tonight program. Asked about Moscow’s plans to hike war spending next year by more than 30%, Taylor said the war in Ukraine is costly for the Kremlin not only in financial terms. “This war is costing Russia a lot,” he said. “It is costing Russia 1.5 million soldiers killed and severely wounded on the battlefield.” “So, the Russians have to entice more young people, young men into the army.” In this context, the former ambassador pointed to Moscow's reliance on North Korea to provide manpower, as well as eying another major mobilization, which he suggested would fail. “Russia is having a very hard time replacing the soldiers that it's losing on the battlefield,” he said. “When Putin goes for this larger draft, this larger mobilization, he will find that the Russian men are not interested in joining that fight. “He will have greater problems in sending men to the field... And that will at sooner or later end this war." In terms of Russia’s increasing economic pain, Taylor conceded that the war is expensive for both sides, but said the important difference is that Kyiv has “big allies.” “Ukraine is blessed with allies,” he said. “The Russians have none.”
