https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19337/ukraine-waiting-for-the-stinger-moment
[W]hen Putin’s invasion of Ukraine came, most analysts still saw war as a short hymn to victory not a long symphony of death in four movements.
Heading for its second year, the Ukraine war seems set to become a long symphony of death rather than short hymn to victory.
No war is won or lost until one side admits defeat or one side totally destroys the other side. Hitler could not admit defeat, a possibility that was urged on him even until 1944, because that would have meant the end of his Reich.
I think that the Biden administration as its principal European allies, Germany and France, lack the vision, or the courage, to provide Ukraine with the hardware needed to threaten Russia’s sense of immunity. Writing fat checks, offering a limited range of recycled weapons, and diplomatic gesticulations such as setting up a tribunal against Putin and his associates, won’t shorten this symphony of death.
The war in Afghanistan was shortened when President Ronald Reagan’s administration supplied the anti-Soviet insurgency with Stinger missiles that ended the Red Army’s control of the skies with helicopter gunships and troop carriers.
The Stinger moment that could shorten this war has not yet arrived.
When Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine almost a year ago, many analysts expected a quick catharsis in line with the prevailing view of war as a short hymn to military power.