When Putin was planning the invasion of Ukraine he could not have imagined two things. The resistance his army would meet on the ground and the amount of international isolation he would find himself in after this move. As much as he refuses to accept it, these are two huge prestige blows. Two wounds for the Russian President. Wounds that of course cannot be compared to those opened by his war.
Regarding the first, Putin thought it was a matter of hours to occupy the whole of Ukraine. He was wrong since he did not count on the fierce resistance shown by the Ukrainians from the very first moment. Despite lying for days that he did not intend to invade the country to catch them asleep.
Where Putin expected to... finish the "job" in one day, we have reached ten days of hostilities and the Russian army is counting serious casualties. The humiliation of the country's famous Armed Forces and defence industry has been described by world-renowned international experts.
The Russian President must also feel humiliated about the second blow, which is only personal. What did he expect to achieve with the invasion on a political level? To divide the planet into camps, break up the unity of the European Union and weaken NATO. What did he achieve? Exactly the opposite. He managed to strengthen the reflexes of the European Union, which made history by reacting with unprecedented speed by imposing sanctions directly. It has managed to strengthen the alliance of NATO, which - with some exceptions - is acting in this affair as one.
All of this has culminated in war crimes against civilians and threats to use nuclear weapons. Internationalists are already talking about the beginning of the end of Putin.
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