Russian citizens drafted during the partial mobilization are dispatched to combat coordination areas in Moscow, Russia, on Oct. 10, 2022. And it's quite likely that this very fall and winter will become Russia's own kind of "last push" — an attempt to somehow turn the tide of its war. By early 2026, it was already obvious: Russia's continued gamble on a war "of attrition" was losing, or had already lost, any real chance of paying off. Russian State Duma members and other participants listen to President Vladimir Putin's speech during his inauguration at the Alexandrovsky Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow, Russia, on May 7, 2024. Still, it's worth understanding that the decisive factor in carrying out this forcibly postponed final strategic "push" will, for the Kremlin, be the military one.