The battle might go for years, according to the head of the Russian Wagner Group, a private military contractor actively engaged in the combat in Ukraine.
Yevgeny Prigozhin stated in a late-Friday video interview that it may take 18 to 2 years for Russia to fully regain control of Donbas, the country's industrial hub in the east. If Moscow decides to seize larger areas east of the Dnieper River, he said, the conflict may go for three years.
The millionaire Prigozhin, who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and has earned the nickname "Putin's chef" for his lucrative catering contracts with the Kremlin, made the statement as a sign of recognition for the challenges the Kremlin has encountered in the campaign, which it had originally anticipated would be over in a matter of weeks when Russian troops invaded Ukraine on February 24.
When the Ukrainian military launched effective counteroffensives to retake large portions of land in the east and the south, Russia suffered a string of humiliating failures. The Kremlin has refrained from predicting how long the combat may go, stating that the "special military operation" will go on until its objectives are achieved.