Putin has been humiliated as Russia at risk of ‘falling apart’

Russian media has openly embarrassed Vladimir Putin, warning that the Kremlin is failing in Ukraine.

Vadim Gasnavov, speaking on the talk show The Meeting Place on Gazprom-owned NTV, said the Ukrainian Armed Forces have “not been destroyed” after nearly four years of fighting.

Gasnavov, a documentary filmmaker, said Ukraine is “successfully resisting,” despite the Kremlin’s belief that Russia would take Kyiv in just three days. Moscow expected limited resistance and a toppled Ukrainian government.

Since Putin launched his full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022, Russia has reportedly lost almost 1.3 million soldiers. In December 2025 alone, more than 30,000 Russian troops were killed — surpassing the 20,000 Soviet soldiers lost during the decade-long Afghan war from 1979–1989.

“The Ukrainian army has not been destroyed, it did not capitulate,” Gasnavov said.

“As a country, Ukraine has every opportunity to continue its resistance and it is successfully resisting.”

He warned that Russia is struggling on the front lines and is at risk of “falling apart.”

“Once again, Ukraine is not defeated. More than that, the Ukrainian society — regardless of what is being written about it — 82% want the conflict to end,” he said.

“The Ukrainian society believes that if they apply a bit more pressure, we’ll fall apart.”

This week, former UK MI6 chief Sir Richard Moore told Sky News that December 2025’s tens of thousands of Russian troop deaths were “astonishing.”

“The losses are terrible, and even the Russians will struggle to replace that level of losses,” Moore said.

“They continue to do appallingly badly on the battlefield.”

Moore compared Putin’s miscalculation to Soviet mistakes in Afghanistan.

“Putin has made the same mistake as Gorbachev did in 1979. He believed it would be a ‘quick operation.’ Moscow wanted to take over Afghanistan quickly — and look how that turned out.”

Despite the staggering losses, Moore warned that Putin “is more comfortable than he should be” and called for stronger support for Ukraine.

“We should be adding more pressure. We should be helping the Ukrainians more extensively than we are. We should be giving them more permissions than we are at the moment.”