Russia would need four years and take 2 million casualties to gain full control of Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, according to a recent British military analysis.

“This is in addition to the approximately 1,060,000 casualties Russia has already likely sustained since launching the full-scale invasion in 2022,” the British Ministry of Defense posted last week on X in their latest assessment of the battlefield conditions in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has long sought control of the Donbas region, which includes the four internationally recognized Ukrainian oblasts of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson.

Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian leaders have said they will not cede the Donbas region in exchange for peace with Russia.

However, despite its resolve and significant financial and military support from the United States and Europe, Kyiv is experiencing deep war fatigue, with hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians killed and wounded since the fighting began.

“Russia announced the illegal and erroneous annexation of the four internationally recognized Ukrainian oblasts, including those under Ukrainian control, in September 2022, contradicting Russia’s own formal recognition of Ukraine’s independence and sovereignty following the collapse of the Soviet Union,” U.K. military officials posted on X.

• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.