DISINFO: Ukraine is militarily defeated
SUMMARY
Ukraine is already militarily defeated. Only those who listen exclusively to state media in countries like Germany, France, or the UK think otherwise. Anyone who has thoroughly analysed the situation understands that the losses on the Ukrainian side are terrible. Ukraine no longer has an operational air and missile defence system. Its energy grid is destroyed. Ukraine is a defeated nation-state.
RESPONSE
The claim is false. Despite inferior resources, Ukraine has managed to resist Russia’s invasion for more than four years. Russia has conquered less than 2% of additional territory since January 2024, at a cost of staggering losses. The situation is even worse for Russia in 2026, as for several months Russian casualties have been higher than the capability to replace them. The Russian economy is in a dire situation, which reduces the economic bonuses and complicates further recruitment. Moreover, the blockade of Starlink and Telegram in February 2026 affected Russian troops, allowing Ukraine to regain some territory.
Despite this, pro-Kremlin disinformation tries to portray Russia as overwhelmingly prevailing over Ukraine and the Russian military as an unstoppable fighting force, which has been called out by both Ukraine’s military and independent analysts as attempts to project force and influence peace negotiations over Ukraine, based on optics and not on the real battlefield situation.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that Russia’s advance is slow because it is always careful not to damage civilians, that Russia holds all the cards while Ukraine badly needs a respite, that Putin’s proposal shows his greatness by giving the defeated a chance to negotiate, that Ukraine cannot dictate the peace terms because it lost the war, that the Nazi Zelenskyy regime is within months of falling, that UK and France are unable to accept defeat in Ukraine, or that Ukraine and Europe have lost in the Ukrainian conflict.