Now Putin will mobilize everything – because he is bracing himself against his downfall

Ukraine is making faster progress with its military counter-offensive than most experts expected. Russia’s army is in a devastating state: morale is broken, equipment is outdated, chains of command are disrupted, and soldiers are increasingly realizing the futility of this war.

Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, who wanted to oust the Ukrainian leadership within a few days and erase Europe’s largest country from the map, is faced with the rubble of his self-delusion. He became a victim of his own politics and propaganda.

The Russian army is not the overwhelming force that many in the West feared and that Putin and his generals made themselves believe it was. This force is the product of Putin’s rule: corroded, materially and morally bled dry by the corruption system he built like a mafia.