Russian leader Vladimir Putin has declared that the country “lost nothing” from its war against Ukraine and is only gaining strength.
“I am certain we have lost nothing and will not lose anything. In terms of what we’ve gained I can say that the main gain is the strengthening of our sovereignty, and that is the inevitable result of what is happening now,” Putin said Wednesday at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.
He went on to say that the “polarization” seen in society after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion on Feb. 24 is actually advantageous to Moscow, since “everything that is unnecessary, harmful and everything that prevents us from moving forward will be rejected.”
While dismissing the impact of economic sanctions and claiming it was actually the West that started the war in Ukraine, the Russian leader neglected to address just how spectacularly his stated goal of stopping NATO expansion had backfired.
Rather than scaring off the alliance, the war Putin insists on calling a “special military operation” has only resulted in a massive buildup of forces in Eastern Europe and the planned admission of new members Sweden and Finland.
Putin also conveniently left out the staggering cost of the war to Russian troops, tens of thousands of whom have been killed or wounded, according to U.S. officials, while Russian human-rights groups say many others have sought to abandon the war over shoddy equipment and dysfunctional leadership.
Even as Putin brazenly declared Russia had lost “nothing,” there were plenty of signs that Russian citizens might take issue with that statement. With 419,000 citizens having left the country since the start of 2022—more than double the amount from a year earlier—The Financial Times reported that sanctioned Russian oligarchs residing overseas “regularly field calls from the Kremlin” asking them to return home.
And more than six months into the war, nothing appears to be going according to plan for Russian troops on the battlefield either, despite the Russian Defense Ministry’s repeated dubious statements to the contrary. As of Wednesday, numerous reports have emerged of Ukrainian troops taking the Russian military by surprise with not just one counteroffensive to take back the Kherson region, but another one in the Kharkiv region as well.
While Ukrainian authorities have stayed mum on the details, even pro-Kremlin propagandists appeared to admit on Telegram that Russian troops had run into trouble.
“I can confirm the encirclement of the combined detachments of the Samara and Bashkiria [special forces] in the city of Balakliya [in the Kharkiv region]. Yesterday there was a connection with the guys, today there is not,” pro-Kremlin reporter Yury Kotenok wrote on Telegram.
“Samara! Bashkiria! Pray for them,” read a message on another propaganda channel. That was soon followed by video purporting to show Russian troops in the area had been taken captive.
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