Russian dictator Vladimir Putin insists his forces are on the brink of triumph in Ukraine, yet the facts paint a starkly different picture. In late March he claimed Russian troops held the upper hand along the entire front line and boasted, “We have reason to believe that we will finish them off.” His rhetoric has driven Moscow’s demands in peace talks to absurd extremes, insisting on Ukraine’s total disarmament and the cession of Crimea plus four other regions—territory his forces cannot even secure.
Behind closed doors, Kremlin hardliners such as State Duma deputy Andrei Kartapolov have echoed this belligerence, demanding Ukraine bow to the “language of the Russian bayonet.” This intransigence has stymied negotiations under US President Donald Trump’s administration, leaving peace efforts frozen. Even Trump’s skeptical vice president, J D Vance, publicly rejected claims to lands beyond Russia’s reach.
Meanwhile, battlefield reality tells a very different story. According to the Institute for the Study of War, over the past 16 months Moscow has seized just 4,700 sq km of Ukrainian soil—under one per cent of Ukraine’s territory—while suffering a staggering 400,000 casualties killed or wounded. These colossal losses underline the weakening of Russia’s military might despite its dictator’s bluster.
