 A Russian commander of the Vostok battalion, fighting in southern Ukraine, said that Ukraine will not be defeated and suggested that Russia freeze the war along current front lines according to Kiev post-media outlet. Alexander Kodakovsky made the candid concession on his telegram channel after Russian forces, including his own troops, were devastatingly defeated by Ukrainian marines earlier this week at Eurasian in the Zaporizia-Donetsk regional border area. Can we bring down Ukraine militarily? Now and in the near future? No. Kodakovsky, a former official of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic, said, When I talk to myself about our destiny in this war, I mean that we will not crawl forward like the Ukrainians, turning everything into destroyed Bakhmutsk in our path. And I do not foresee the easy occupation of cities, he said. We can though enter a phase that is most unfavorable for Ukraine in its independent state. A phase of neither peace nor war. We could be in this phase if, instead of the special military operation, the territories were recognized and officially taken under guardianship. But it would require a completely different twist of history. Kodakovsky said, A well-regarded think tank, the Institute for the Study of War ISW, assessed Kodakovsky's comments in the context of A. Ongoing power struggles among Kremlin elites and B. The practical consequences of the recent battlefield setbacks for the unit that he personally formed in 2014. The ISW said in its daily campaign assessment that Kodakovsky was reintroducing a narrative that had been largely dormant since Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigoshin's armed rebellion. In April, Prigoshin stated that Russia should freeze the war in Ukraine to set conditions for a future victory without negotiations.