The Kremlin admitted defeat for the first time since the invasion of Ukraine in February. However, Russia is doing everything it can to clear President Vladimir Putin and put the blame on others.
It concerns large-scale Russian losses in the area around the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. The Ukrainian Armed Forces launched an offensive there earlier this month. The troops have already managed to recapture at least 6,000 square kilometers of land from the Russians.
According to the American think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) the causes of the defeat are widely discussed in the Russian state media. This is new according to the ISW. Previously, the defeats were hidden or distorted. Russian successes were either exaggerated or invented.
For example, the Kremlin never admitted that Russian troops had to withdraw from Kiev in April. The loss of the strategically placed Snake Island was also not reported in the Russian state media.
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Russia came first with a different explanation
Previously, the Russian defense ministry had provided another explanation for the losses around Kharkiv. So it was said that the Russian troops had withdrawn to reorganize. According to the ISW, this explanation could count on a lot of criticism within Russia.
The Kremlin is definitely not blaming Putin for the defeat. Instead, the blame is shifted to “ill-informed military advisers in Putin’s circle,” writes the ISW.
The recognition of the defeat shows, according to the think tank, that in some circumstances Putin is willing to admit a Russian defeat, even if he mainly blames others and exonerates himself.
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