Friday marked a year since Russia invaded Ukraine. There were no statements from Kremlin officials that day and President Vladimir Putin did not make a statement, but many expected him to make his statement that day.
The US think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) says the reason for Putin’s silence is likely that Russia “has failed to achieve its stated objectives and has not captured any territory since July 2022”.
Instead of saying a word about a year into the war, Dmitry Medvedev, the former president of Russia and a close ally of Putin, said it was crucial for Russia to push the borders as far as possible that threaten Russia. , “even to the Polish border”.
ISW points out that Medvedev has previously been used to criticize Western support for Ukraine and to try to “entertain” Russia’s failures on the battlefield.
“Medvedev’s comments underscore the fact that the Kremlin is still trying to achieve its unrealistic lofty goals, even though it has no meaningful results to report to the Russian people after a year of costly war in Ukraine,” ISW says.
THE #Kremlin did not comment on the first anniversary of the full-scale invasion of Russia #Ukraine on February 24, probably because #Russia has not achieved any of its stated goals and has not made any significant territorial gains since July 2022. pic.twitter.com/D1IkKRV5ct
—ISW (@TheStudyofWar) February 25, 2023
