In Vladimir Putin’s telling, Russia’s victory is so close he can barely fail to grasp it. The hour of neo-imperial powers is nigh. Even America is joining. Democracies, and European ones especially, are on the losing side of history.
At home Russia’s president boasts of having overcome western sanctions to guarantee economic and social stability. On the front lines in Ukraine he claims to have the “strategic initiative” as his army advances towards taking the whole of the Donbas region. “Either we liberate these territories by force, or Ukrainian troops leave these territories,” he warns. His weapons factories, according to Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte, pump out ammunition at four times the rate the alliance can manage.
America’s leadership repeats the story. JD Vance predicts that Russia will take Donbas. Donald Trump, describing footage of a Moscow military parade, reportedly told aides Putin’s army looked “invincible”. The US has linked Ukraine ceding territory to security guarantees. Whether Trump fully believes Putin’s all-conquering narrative, or affects to because he wants Ukraine to concede, can sometimes be difficult to gauge. But both Putin and Trump know that we live in a world where being able to impose your story is what matters.