Nearly 2 years after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine and 10 years after it annexed Crimea, let's take a look at what it has gained.
- NATO was enlarged by two historically neutral countries.
- Countries like Germany, which had been neglecting their military and whose people were opposed to defense spending, have become war hawks. There is no more talk of cutting defense spending among European nations. On the contrary, everyone is talking about modernization and increased funding.
- Western arms sales have received a massive boost.
- Russia has lost much of its considerable soft power over Western nations. For example, before 2022, many German politicians from almost all parties maintained close contacts with Russia.
- Russia has lost access to Western markets and is now completely dependent on China's goodwill. A decidedly worse outlook for its national identity than before.
- Russia's enemies, who once believed in the absolute superiority of the Russian armed forces, now often mock their incompetence.
- Ukraine is more united than ever, and its self-identity has been massively strengthened. The alleged threat from Ukraine has not been neutralized. On the contrary, Ukraine now frequently launches attacks against Russian cities and energy infrastructure.
- Sevastopol has become a death trap for Russia's Black Sea Fleet. In terms of tonnage, Ukraine has now destroyed about 20% of Russia's Black Sea Fleet and its headquarters.
At what cost to Russia was this achieved? We know from Russian sources that at least 3500 Russian officers died. Extrapolating this number based on data from other wars, Russia has suffered more than 300,000 casualties. There are more than 14,000 visually confirmed losses of Russian equipment.
And even if Russia eventually manages to occupy all of Ukraine, it will be an indefinite security nightmare to secure large cities like Kyiv against mass protests and stop partisans backed by foreign intelligence services from carrying out attacks. Remember, the United States has spent more than $2 trillion on the war in Afghanistan and failed. That’s $300 million dollars per day, every day, for two decades.
In summary, Putin is clearly the worst Russian leader since Stalin.
P.S.
All attempts to destroy Ukraine economically failed:
Despite constant attacks against Ukraine's critical infrastructure, Russia ended up having more power outrages this winter than Ukraine.
Due to Ukraine's successful campaign against Russia's Black Sea Fleet, it's exporting as much grain as before the invasion.