First define winning for Putin.

He has annexed large regions of Eastern Ukraine, all of the land mass connected to the sea of Azov, and a large amount of the landmass connected to the Black sea

If that's not winning idk what is. Chatter has died down completely on Ukraine - people have accepted the new status quo. Ukraine put up a great defence of Kiev and did well in general but they only lost more territory in this war

So by his own initial war aims and objectives, he has failed.

Do really believe having nominal control over a land corridor within range of missile strikes constitutes a win?
Quarter of a million casualties and counting, a million working age men fled the draft, countless companies left the Russian space entirely, billions wiped off the state balance sheet, ploughing billions in national reserve savings into funding a forever war, sanctions across the board on even average Russians.

If your really chalking this up as a win I'd hate to know what you think a defeat looks like.

It's very doubtful that the regions he annexed will ever be productive enough to recoup the financial costs and the death toll of this war. Furthermore, he has failed the objective of keeping Ukraine within the Russian sphere of influence and away from the EU and NATO.

This war has been an unmitigated disaster for everyone but China.

An unmitigated disaster for the West and even worse for Ukraine

My guy waited 4 weeks to say that

How's that nice testing ground treating you Scotty

The goals have changed so now the West and Ukraine can still proclaim victory even if they can’t get Crimea or Donbass back.

Interesting David Arakhamia interview, he confirms that Boris Johnson pushed for war:

https://twitter.com/ivan_8848/status/1728312004295709067

He confirmed that the conflict in Ukraine could have ended last spring. They just had to choose neutrality.

“Russia’s goal was to put pressure on us so that we would accept neutrality. This was the main thing for them: they were ready to end the war if we accepted neutrality, like Finland once did. And we would give an obligation that we would not join NATO. This was the main thing,” – he admitted.

But then British Prime Minister Boris Johnson came to Kiev and forbade signing an agreement with Russia. He said "let's just fight."

Sad part is - nobody cares. It reminds me of an attempt of a ceasefire in Syria in 2015. It was never accepted and then Assad won, but thousands have lost their lives a land the country is not the same anymore.

The longer this goes - the more Ukrainian and Russian lives will be lost, which are disposable it seems to our local NATO shills revelling in their bloodthirsty racist exuberance, happy to see nations destroyed, under the guise of keeping NATO countries safe. They have truly become death, the destroyers of worlds.

This post was edited by Malopox on Nov 25 2023 05:34am