"We have seen some evidence of Russian forces addressing some of the issues they faced earlier in the war in Ukraine," a Western official told Reuters on Thursday. Russian President Vladimir Putin's failed in his initial pre-war objectives but is still in a position to win inside Ukraine, the official continued.  

Western nations have been scrambling in recent days to increase the pace of arms shipments to Ukraine's military. On Thursday, US President Joe Biden announced $800M in new military aid for Ukraine and said the US would be sending weapons “directly to the front lines of freedom”.