War in Ukraine will start to come to naught, by year's end it will enter diplomatic phase - Former NSC Director for European Affairs Vindman

Windman said this in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.

"I think that this war will start to come to naught, and by the end of the year we will start to enter the phase of diplomacy with negotiations. Throughout this spring, summer and fall, Russia will try to go on the offensive, to seize territory in the four regions it calls its own. They may have limited tactical successes, but it will not be anything close to what Ukraine was able to do in Kharkiv or Kherson, or what Russia did in the beginning, in the first two or three weeks of the war, when it was mostly lightning attacks across the border," Windman said.

In his opinion, after the Russians suffer even more losses, they will be forced to go on the defensive. 

"Russia will probably destroy most of its troops and then go on the defensive, after which Ukraine will be able to launch an offensive. This is likely to happen in the summer and in the late spring, additional territories will be liberated. So I think in the short and medium term, all the advantages are on Ukraine's side. Russia has lost too much equipment. Its personnel receive only basic training. And Ukraine is getting stronger every day, receiving Western weapons and training soldiers in the West. By the end of this year, success will be on Ukraine's side," said Windman, who is a veteran of the Iraq war.

• On March 5, former U.S. Commander in Europe Ben Hodges said that Ukraine should first de-occupy Crimea and then liberate Donbas.