Ukraine’s commander-in-chief of armed forces General Valery Zaluzhny told The Economist that the war in Ukraine in “at a stalemate”, warning that there is likely to be no quick “no deep and beautiful breakthrough” in the counteroffensive against Russia.

The candid assessment – which could cause headaches for world leaders attempting to maintain financial and military support for Ukraine – comes 18 months after Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.

Speaking to the Economist, Zaluzhny said: “Just like in the World War I we have reached the level of technology that puts us into a stalemate”.

The general told the publication it would take a massive technological leap to break the deadlock. There will most likely be no deep and beautiful breakthrough.

Zaluzhny also spoke about the fact that Russia’s attitude towards the lives of its troops has resulted in slow progress. The 49-year-old said that he initially believed he could halt Russia “by bleeding its troops”.

It is estimated that while up to 70,000 Ukrainians have been killed and 100-120,000 injured, Russia’s casualties stand at an estimated 120,000 deaths, according to the Telegraph.

He said: “That was my mistake. Russia has lost at least 150,000 dead. In any other country such casualties would have stopped the war. Let’s be honest, it’s a feudal state where the cheapest resource is human life. And for us…the most expensive thing we have is our people”.

“If you look at Nato’s text books and at the maths which we did [in planning the counter-offensive], four months should have been enough time for us to have reached Crimea, to have fought in Crimea, to return from Crimea and to have gone back in and out again”, - Zaluzhny told the magazine.

When his troops got nowhere, he wondered if it was his commanders, so he changed them. They still had no luck.

He said he only got an insight when he reread a book published in 1941 by a Soviet major-general, who analysed the battles of the World War I. It was called “Breaching Fortified Defence Lines”: “And before I got even halfway through it, I realised that is exactly where we are because just like then, the level of our technological development today has put both us and our enemies in a stupor”.