Vladimir Putin has lost the war and may yet lose much more

It is still very difficult to predict how Putin’s regime will come to an end, but one thing is certain: for the foreseeable future, it is Ukraine which will continue to experience the sociopathic violence that has come to define him

A fragment of a destroyed Russian tank on the outskirts of Kharkiv: Once the war against Ukraine began on February 24, it became increasingly evident that Russian equipment was frequently malfunctioning, and vehicles breaking down for lack of fuel. Picture: Sergey Bobok/AFP via Getty Images

It is becoming more and more difficult for Vladimir Putin to disguise how badly his war in Ukraine is going. In the space of two weeks, his epic miscalculation has led to unprecedented losses on the battlefield, economic sanctions that are unsurpassed in their scale and severity, and diplomatic isolation on a global scale. 

With an increasingly severe crackdown on domestic dissent, Russia has mutated from authoritarian hybrid to North Korean-style rogue totalitarian state.