Drone strikes, mounting casualties and a distracted US president means a slow-motion victory is in doubt Drone strikes, mounting casualties and a distracted US president means a slow-motion victory is in doubt Vladimir Putin suggested that the war in Ukraine may be “coming to an end” on Saturday – comments that raise the question of why the Russian president might want a possible end to the war now, given how the fighting is evolving. After Ukraine’s failed counteroffensive in the summer of