In an effort to keep up support for Kyiv, Western officials are continuing to tell news outlets that Russia has somehow lost on the ground in Ukraine. 

CNN, citing an unnamed Western official, reported last week that the current expectation is that the war will continue to be bloody and fierce, “but in terms of the war and what Russia was looking to achieve, Russia has lost and Russia is a diminished power and is on a diminishing trajectory.”

The official said that the notion that Russia will achieve victory by simply holding on to the land that it captured is “insane” when considering how NATO has strengthened and expanded with Finland and soon-to-be Sweden. The official noted that even Ukraine is on the path to join NATO. 

TREND FORECAST: Russia did not lose and there is no evidence that Ukraine will ever field an army capable of standing up to Moscow. But as The Trends Journal forecast for months, the worse the conditions become on the ground, the busier Western governments will be to sell a losing war. (See “AS FORECAST, UKRAINE’S COUNTEROFFENSIVE HAS FAILED: NEGOTIATE FOR PEACE, OR DIE AT WAR,” 22 Aug 2023.)

This “official” is far from the first person in the West to declare a Russian loss in Ukraine. (See “U.S. MILITARY HEAD MILLEY CHANGES HIS TUNE AFTER CRITICIZED FOR CALLING FOR KYIV TO NEGOTIATE, NOW SAYS RUSSIA LOST!” 22 Nov 2022, “UKRAINE GOING DARK, BUT GERMANY’S SCHOLZ SAYS RUSSIA ALREADY LOST IN UKRAINE” 29 Nov 2022, and “BULLSHIT BIDEN SAYS RUSSIAN PRESIDENT DOESN’T HAVE THE STOMACH FOR A LONG WAR” 18 Jul 2023.)

Of course, these declarations are meaningless and not based on a decisive victory. They essentially sell pitches to the public to keep you distracted. The Ukrainian counteroffensive has been a disaster, and over 40,000 Ukrainian soldiers are believed to have died on the battlefield in the last few months, bringing the total to well over 400,000. (These numbers have been hidden by officials in Washington, either because they would be too sobering for the American public or because Washington simply does not know.)

Secretary of State Antony Blinken told NBC News on Thursday that the Ukrainians were making “very tangible progress” in its counteroffensive. His source was Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky who “toured the front lines.”

“I think we are seeing real forward movement,” Blinken said. “But again, this is going to go on. This is tough, this is hard.”  

Scott Ritter, the former UN weapons inspector who has been a vocal critic of the U.S. support for Ukraine, said in an interview last week that Zelensky got nowhere near the front line, because he would be killed. He also noted that Blinken—who visited Kyiv last week to vow support for “as long as it takes”—also stayed far from the front because he, too, would die “like all the Ukrainians who are fighting there.”

This official who was quoted by CNN does not seem to be paying attention, either, after saying that Ukraine is on the path to join NATO. The Alliance has made it clear that there will be no membership until after the war, which means there will be no Ukraine to even join.

Again, when the Ukraine War began on 24 February 2022, we had forecast that Ukraine would lose the war. Indeed. Russia controls some 20 percent of the country and has destroyed its economy, infrastructure, and the soul and spirit of the several millions that have left the country and those who are living in financial and spiritual ruin.