New Delhi, March 1 -- On 24 February 2022, Russian forces crossed into Ukraine with the objective of demilitarizing the country and deterring Kyiv from joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Russian strategic planners expected a Ukrainian collapse within a fortnight.

Four years on, Moscow has yet to achieve its core wartime objectives of gaining complete control over the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. The conflict has already surpassed the length of the Soviet military campaign against Nazi Germany, making it Russia's longest in Europe in over a century.

Despite Russian forces controlling the tempo across multiple axes, they have struggled to achieve a breakthrough, as Ukrainian resistance has slowed the...