Without fanfare, Ukraine marked this week the deadliest day in Europe’s deadliest war since 1945. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry reports killing 1,030 Russian soldiers in one day — on Tuesday. The high death toll comes as Russia resorts to World War II-style human wave attacks in eastern Ukraine. Soldiers, largely draftees and convicts, are forced forward, often at gunpoint, with the goal of forcing Ukrainians soldiers to reveal their firing positions.

Behind this strategy are Russian generals desperate to provide President Putin with battlefield victories by the first  anniversary, on February 24, of Russia’s all-out attack on Ukraine. Russia also is racing to advance before Ukraine receives hundreds of promised Western tanks and fighting vehicles. Despite high death tolls, Russia’s advances this winter have been measured in villages and hundreds of yards.