Putin is Losing in Ukraine. His Will to Fight On is Undaunted

By Carol J Williams

The winds of war have shifted for Russian President Vladimir Putin, blowing away the complacency of a tuned-out Russian citizenry now feeling the repercussions of a conflict waged in their names.

Ukraine has redirected its sophisticated attack-drone arsenal from stalemated front lines to target critical Russian energy infrastructure from the Black Sea to the Baltic. The war now in its fifth year has finally crashed into the Russian homeland, shattering civilians’ sense of remove from a faraway conflict they’ve been led to believe is justified revenge on a demonized neighbor.

Ukraine’s drones have been hitting apartment buildings and damaging oil refineries and export facilities for the past few months. That has led to gas rationing, rising prices and suspended fuel deliveries from Russia’s Rostov region across occupied Ukrainian territory along the Sea of Azov to Russian-annexed Crimea.

Bombs and hardships that hadn’t hit Russians where they live are now daily occurrences, turning public opinion against the war that Putin will have a hard time ending even if he decides he wants to. The extent to which Putin has lost control over the narrative of his Ukraine gambit exploded in visible mortification last week, hours before the Kremlin leader’s high-profile event drawing 20,000 business leaders from 130 countries to his hometown for the annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

https://www.postalley.org/2026/06/08/putin-is-losing-in-ukraine-his-will-to-fight-on-is-undaunted/?mc_cid=56d42d2446&mc_eid=a0c4847065
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