CHUCK DEVORE: Ukraine Turns The Tables On Russia, Potentially Changing The War

In war, the enemy gets a vote – and Russia isn’t happy about it. “The West is fighting us with the hands of the Ukrainians,” Russian strongman Vladimir Putin whined.

The cause of Putin’s discomfort was a surprise Ukrainian incursion into Russia that’s seized more territory in a week than Russia took in Ukraine over the past year.

But as Putin’s diplomats came to the United Nations to complain, their European counterparts were having none of it. “We will not recognize the aggressor as the victim,” said a Slovenian envoy.

Putin’s Russia thought that due to its size and willingness to use brutal force, it would be able to easily topple Ukraine’s government and seize additional territory when it invaded in February 2022.

Instead, Ukraine survived and even pushed back, driving Russians away from its two largest cities, Kyiv and Kharkiv. But significant U.S. and Western equipment arrived slowly, and Ukraine was unable to push Russia back in the South and East, with the Russian army building up an extensive defensive belt that allowed it to blunt Ukraine’s summer offensive last year.

This year, instead of pushing back against layers of minefields and trenches patrolled by increasingly lethal drones, Ukraine built up a large force in its Northeast opposite of the Russian city of Kursk, hundreds of miles from the main fight.

The Russians saw the buildup, but arrogantly thought the Ukrainians incapable of doing anything serious. Then, a week ago, the Ukrainians unleashed a cross-border attack and the poorly trained and led Russian forces collapsed like a house of cards, with Ukrainians capturing hundreds of POWs.