It takes a special brand of chutzpah to issue a statement like the one below . . . to know exactly what you are saying, and to expect the entire world to accept it as gospel. Speaking about the current proposals from Ukraine for the next steps toward a possible settlement of the nearly five-year-old war — the war that began with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 — Vladimir Putin told journalists in his home town of St. Petersburg on Friday:

“They [Ukraine] are the ones who started it. Everywhere, on every front. Are these playthings, child’s play? They should therefore be made to feel Russia’s retaliatory strikes and understand that no provocative actions, no stirring up the situation to secure a result, will work. They’re only making things worse for themselves.”

Then he tried to present himself as both the peacemaker and the stalwart defender of his country’s honor:

“They [the proposals] are all on the table. It’s all possible. But after everything they have done, we will still have to think carefully about what we need to do in response.”

– Reported by Reuters, September 25, 2026.

“They are the ones who started it”?!!

Maybe it’s not chutzpah. Maybe it’s insanity. Because he seems to have convinced himself that the war he started is indeed Ukraine’s doing . . . that they have no one but themselves to blame for the years of death and devastation wrought by Russia’s missiles, drones, and ground assaults . . . and that Ukraine’s counterattacks are indeed “provocative,” rather than retaliatory.

But no, I don’t think he’s crazy. I believe he’s desperate . . . desperate to find a means of turning a disastrous failure into a reasonable facsimile of success while he still retains a measure of credibility with his own people.

That is, if it isn’t already too late.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
9/27/26