Russia is losing in Ukraine. Xi has noticed — Trump should too | CNN Politics

Brett McGurk is a CNN global affairs analyst who served in senior national security positions under Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden. During talks last week with President Donald Trump in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping reportedly remarked that Vladimir Putin might one day regret invading Ukraine. The new trends on the battlefield suggest he’s right. That offers a new chance for Trump’s diplomacy to end the war—but with a different approach than what he’s tried before. Putin had hoped that 2026 would be the year his forces — enabled by his advantage in mass and manpower — would break through the frontlines and seize the contested regions in eastern Ukraine. That has not happened. Thus far, it’s Ukraine — not Russia — that has achieved net territorial gains this year, together with inflicting massive losses on Russia’s invading forces. Western estimates now place Russian casualties at levels approaching or exceeding 30,000 to 40,000 killed and wounded per month — an extraordinary rate of attrition for no gains in territory. Overall Russian casualties since the invasion began are now widely estimated well above one millio