NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has warned that Western powers should be prepared for “bad news” from Ukraine in the wake of Kyiv’s failed “counter-offensive” against occupying Russian forces.

Amid growing concerns about Ukraine’s ability to continue the fight against the much larger Russian military and failures to recapture any meaningful amount of territory from Moscow’s army, there are growing whispers in the halls of power in the West about the ex-Soviet state’s prospects in battling back its former master.