By: Samuel Lin
As Russia and Ukraine continue to fight, the war’s one-year mark is approaching. Over the past months, Putin has changed his attitude from relaxed and optimistic to more agitated.
When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th, 2022, Putin shielded the public from the war. He claimed the war was a “special military operation” that would only take a few months at most. Putin claimed that Russia was doing much better than it actually was and lied about the number of Russian casualties. when a Russian ship, Moska, was hit by a Ukraine missile in April, military officials denied the fact that it was hit by Ukraine missile and concealed the number of casualties.
However, Russia’s lack of transparency is beginning to change. Putin is revealing more information about the conflict to Russian citizens. For instance, when a lethal Ukraine missile strike killed Russian mobilized personnel in Makiivka, Russian officials acknowledged 89 deaths instead of feigning no deaths. However, the number of deaths is lower than what Ukrainian officials reported.
Putin also called the conflict a “war” instead of a “special military operation” for the first time on December 22nd. Putin is currently drafting and mobilizing soldiers to train them for the military as the situation gets more desperate for Russia.
“He’s gotten a lot less relaxed, a lot less optimistic,” Tatiana Stanovaya, a journalist on Russian politics. “You can sense a certain anxiety, a desire to mobilize all possible forces to achieve his goals.”
The war between Ukraine and Russia rages on. Russia is continuing to attack Eastern Ukraine while Ukraine is counter-attacking. So far, Ukraine has recaptured 40% of Russia-annexed territory since last February, according to Valerii Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief.
Nevertheless, Russia continues to use propaganda through television to lie to the Russian public. Russian officials are trying to convince its citizens that what Russia did was self-defense and NATO and Ukraine were threatening. Putin claimed that Russia must “defend itself” from the Western allies and Ukraine, who want to divide Russia.
"We have simply been left with no other option to defend Russia and our people than the one we must resort to today," said Putin.
Putin restated this on New Year’s Day, saying, “They [The West] are cynically using Ukraine and its people to weaken and divide Russia.”
Putin is spreading lies, such as calling the attack on the Crimea bridge a terrorist attack..
"There is no doubt, this is an act of terrorism aimed at destroying Russia's critical civilian infrastructure," Mr. Putin said.
Sources:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64155859
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/03/world/europe/putin-russia-ukraine-war.html
https://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-russian-blunders-during-putin-war-against-ukraine-2022-12
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/21/us/politics/ukraine-russia-war-stalemate.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/14/world/europe/putin-military-draft-russia.html
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/events-leading-up-russias-invasion-ukraine-2022-02-28/