It’s not looking good for Vladimir Putin or his troops (who have already reportedly been shooting themselves in recent months in order to leave hell) as Ukraine’s army regains territory. This past week has seen notable advances on that front, and over the weekend, the Russian position looked so dire that even Putin’s state TV propagandists were admitting that things are going badly, and Russian bloggers merrily blasted the president for botching the entire war from its inception.
Russia may not last much longer, all when it looked like over 6 months of war would continue with no end in sight for what ultimately looked like a stalemate. Ukraine now reports that it’s recaptured over 20 settlements from Russian troops. The Financial Times revealed that this adds up to 3000 square kilometers that’s back in Ukraine’s hands. Likewise, Washington Post reports that the Ukrainian army is advancing upon “territory with shocking speed,” and one woman was quoted as waving her broom and shouting, “We are all ready to go into battle!”
Both outlets report that Russian troops are taking any possible measure to get out of dodge, with Washington Post relaying how another woman described the frantic soldiers, who were disguising themselves to avoid detection by Ukrainian forces and even drones. “They came into our houses to take clothes so the drones wouldn’t see them in uniforms,” she explained. WaPo also quotes a military analyst that explains why, even though this is reason for optimism, Ukraine shouldn’t expect overnight results:
It has the potential, at least, to change the course of the war, military experts said.
“This is a significant event,” said Rob Lee, a military analyst at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. “It doesn’t mean Russia will be forced out of Ukraine anytime soon. But they keep not learning lessons right, keep not doing basic things right.”
In the meantime, Putin’s doing his best to avoid reality at home. He’s already apparently brought the hammer down on local officials who wanted to overthrow him for his abomination of a war in Ukraine. Although Russians are also fleeing their country in mass quantities, their president appears to want to hang onto his illusions until the bitter end. He might even be distracting himself by hitting the Botox even harder these days. Gotta keep up that facade.
(Via Washington Post, France24.com & Financial Times)