In 2026, Vladimir Putin will complete 26 years in power and is on track to become the longest-serving leader of the Russian Federation since the tsarist era.
However, January 12 will mark 1,418 days since Russia's failed attempt to conquer Ukraine. The same period of time that the Great Patriotic War (the Eastern Front of World War II) was ongoing.
Putin has yet to achieve significant success in Ukraine.
According to The Times, for Putin, who has made the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany a cornerstone of his national ideology, the poor performance of the Russian army is an unpleasant reminder that his war machine is not as well-oiled as military officials would have him believe. That is why he will do everything possible not to show weakness.
It is noted that in 1,418 days, Joseph Stalin's soldiers marched from the Volga to Berlin. Putin's army is still stuck in Pokrovsk, having advanced approximately 50 kilometers since the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine in February 2022.
The publication emphasizes that there are still no indications that the huge losses of the Russian army, combined with such modest progress or growing economic difficulties, will force Putin to compromise on his ultimate goal of returning Kiev to Moscow's orbit.
Roman Bananin, editor-in-chief of the Russian investigative journalism website “Project“, told reporters that Putin does play a direct role in military planning, UNIAN writes. However, he added that in this way the Kremlin leader has caught himself in his own trap.
“Anyone who had even the slightest critical view of things has disappeared from his circle,“ he said Bananin.
The journalist added that there are “obviously crazy people“ in Putin's entourage. In particular, he mentions the former chairman of the Russian board of directors, who recently told Moscow teachers that the West is planning to release a virus that will destroy most of humanity, leaving only a small elite whose needs will be served by robots.
In addition, Putin has previously ordered his troops to advance further into the Sumy and Kharkiv regions. However, some Russian opposition figures and analysts believe that Putin views the seizure of Ukrainian territory as a secondary issue. In his speeches, he and his senior officials have repeatedly spoken about the need to address the “root causes“ of the war, referring to the pro-Western Ukrainian government.
“Putin does not need territory. "He has set himself the goal of destroying Ukraine's independence and cannot back down," former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov told reporters.
Kasyanov also believes that the administration of US President Donald Trump cannot succeed in resolving the Russia-Ukraine war because it does not understand the nature of the conflict. According to him, Washington continues to believe that this war is "a conflict between two leaders who need to reconcile."
In his New Year's address, Putin assured Russians of "victory."
Reuters reported earlier that he devoted a significant part of his New Year's address to the participants in the war against Ukraine. He has traditionally tried to portray the aggression as a “fight for justice“, claiming that Russian troops fighting on the territory of a sovereign state were “defending the truth“.
Putin also spoke of “national support“ for the war and assured that all Russians were “with the soldiers in their thoughts“, calling the country “one big family“.