Putin non sta vincendo

Putin is not winning but neither are we. And frankly, considering the direction we’re going, I’m not sure we are losing less

I’d feel much more secure if the Eurobros were at least capable of recognizing that the situation on the ground is desperate

No worries, trump will step up and help him win. The fact that in spite of all the orange half-brain sitting in the White Hours efforts in that directions have been in vain only speaks to just how incompetent the russians actually are. They cannot win even when they rig the game in their favor.

**Underestimating the Russian leader is dangerous, but ascribing dark powers to him plays right into his hands.**

Since the beginning of September, Russia has sent dozens of drones into European airspace. In [response](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/10/world/europe/poland-russia-drones-ukraine-attack.html), NATO governments have briefly shut down civilian airports, scrambled fighter jets, and invoked NATO’s Article 4—calling for formal consultations among allies.

This pattern of incursions is Vladimir Putin’s most overt attempt to show NATO as hollow and unable to defend its own territory, much less Ukraine. But more remarkable than the provocation itself is how confidently observers in the West deemed it a victory for the Russian president. The intrusions had contributed, one CNN analysis [asserted](https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/27/europe/putin-hybrid-war-europe-risks-intl), to a level of confusion and distraction that represented a “win for Putin”—yet another instance of his being depicted as enjoying one success after another, regardless of battlefield losses, unfavorable geopolitical shifts, and growing turbulence at home.

After taking over from the ailing Boris Yeltsin a quarter century ago, Putin started his presidency by projecting a near-comical image of manliness and invincibility. But no one in the Kremlin could have imagined how the West would adopt and then amplify this narrative. If you Google phrases such as *victory for Putin* and *big win for Putin*, you find news stories stretching back years: Brexit, Syria, Donald Trump’s presidential victories in 2016 and 2024, Marine Le Pen competing in [France’s presidential election](https://www.politico.eu/article/marine-le-pen-may-have-lost-france-elections-but-the-kremlin-vladimir-putin-is-winning/), the Israel-Hamas war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is now the public face of opposition to Russian imperialism, but even his election in 2019 was [interpreted](https://abcnews.go.com/International/russian-officials-comedians-win-ukraine/story?id=62552468) as a win for Putin.

Putin, a ruthless septuagenarian bent on restoring Russia to its imperial glory, is simply too good a villain for Western politicians and media commentators to ignore. Casting him as omniscient and unstoppable creates a clear story amid the chaos of global affairs. For Trump’s critics, emphasizing Putin’s strength has become another way of denigrating the U.S. president. But this emotionally convenient mythmaking spills over into news and political analysis.

Early in my career, I [worked inside](https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2024/09/russian-propaganda-putin-ukraine-invasion/680021/) several propaganda outlets in Russia. All had an unspoken rule: No matter the crisis, Putin can’t lose. Many Western commentators are unwittingly following that rule too. But overestimating Putin’s power means doing his job for him. It means amplifying every one of his threats, mistaking posturing for reality, and making policy decisions based not on facts but on what Putin wants us to believe. And although he has had some successes—his annexation of Crimea, to name one—Putin’s biggest win comes from convincing the world that he’s winning, even when he isn’t.

The war ends today: Ukrainian victory, Russia didn’t get into this mess just for a land bridge to Crimea. Winter war 2.0

The war drags on for a couple more years: Russia might actually be able to grind Ukraine down. I’ve been hearing “Russia is running out of missiles”, “Russia’s economy will collapse” etc. since like, June 2022

He is winning. Ukrainian government had to turn their country to north korea to somehow stay afloat, while russian standarts of living hadn’t suffered at all.