{{See also|NATO war in Ukraine}}
According to the French ''Marianne'' paper in March 2024, a secret series of 'assessments' by the French military written in the fall of 2023, following [[2023 Ukraine counteroffensive|Kiev's disastrous ground offensive]], concluded that: "[[Ukraine]] cannot win this [[war]] militarily." The report praises the [[Russian]] forces as the new “tactical and technical” standard of how to run defensive operations and debunks the media myth of “meat assaults."<ref>https://www.marianne.net/monde/europe/guerre-en-ukraine-endurance-russe-echec-de-la-contre-offensive-ce-que-cache-le-virage-de-macron</ref> A summary of the report states:
[[File:Facing Russians, we are an army of cheerleaders.PNG|right|300px|thumb|''Marianne'', March 7, 2024.]]
{{quotebox-float|"While [[Macron]] might be preparing something disastrous, the French Armed Forces are trying to sound the alarm through the French [[media]].