Russia’s economic crisis is deepening as Kremlin insiders warn that Putin’s war in Ukraine is pushing the country toward disaster. Exploding budget deficits, collapsing civilian industries, shrinking oil revenues, mounting sanctions, and battlefield stagnation have left Russia trapped with no easy escape. Why are economists, business leaders, and even officials sounding the alarm? In this video, we break down the forces driving Russia’s decline and examine whether Putin’s war machine can survive much longer.
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NewsTranscript
00:00There is a crisis in the Kremlin. Insiders who know more than most have just admitted the
00:06unthinkable. Something gigantic has broken in Russia and it can't be fixed. Those insiders
00:11know what Putin doesn't know. Russia's leader is trapped in a war that he can't win. Every single
00:17day that the Ukraine war goes on is a day when Putin plunges his country deeper into a black
00:22hole of despair. Putin can't afford to quit, but Russia can't afford to fight. There's no way out
00:29from here as Putin has created a version of Russia that can't survive much longer.
00:33How did Russia get here? We'll be answering that question after we cover what the insiders
00:38have to say about the state of their country. And those insiders revealed the catastrophe
00:42that stands before Putin. The Russian budget can no longer afford the war that Putin started.
00:48Internal division is raging inside the Kremlin, as economists with both the Russian Ministry
00:53of Finance and the Russian Central Bank warn that the continuation of the Ukraine invasion
00:57will result in the state budget deficit ballooning beyond repair. That deficit already looks bad
01:03for Russia. During the first four months of 2026, the Russian Ministry of Finance reported
01:07that the deficit had risen to 5.8 trillion rubles, which amounts to around $80.6 billion.
01:15That's bad enough. But it gets worse when you find out that the same ministry had projected
01:19a deficit of 3.7 trillion rubles for the entire year. Right now, Russia's state budget deficit
01:25accounts for 2.5% of its gross domestic product, or GDP, and there seems to be no way for
01:30Russia
01:31to recover unless Putin ends his war. That's the problem. Putin isn't going to stop, and
01:36that's why he's trapped. Economy officials are trying to push the Defense Ministry to make
01:41the cuts to ease the burden being placed on Russia's finances by Putin's invasion. United24
01:46media reports that this push is being resisted to the point where Russia has been forced to
01:50downgrade its economic growth forecast for 2026 to just 0.4%. Russia is balancing on a knife
01:57edge, and it's going to be sliced soon. Recession looms as stagnation arrives. And it's not just
02:03officials in the Kremlin who are screaming at Putin to open his eyes and look at the situation that he
02:08has created within his own country. Business leaders are also signaling that the only way for
02:13Russia to even get close to coming back on track is if Putin ends the war. These calls rarely come
02:18directly. However, you can see the sentiment among Russia's business leaders if you look closely
02:22enough. The New Voice of Ukraine reports on comments made by a senior corporate executive,
02:27who says that one look at the stock market tells you all that you need to know about what Russia's
02:31business leaders think about the invasion. The rallies and enthusiasm on the Russian stock market
02:36after every piece of positive news about US-brokered peace talks on Ukraine show what the real answer
02:40should be, the executive says. The message is clear. Russia's economic minds inside the Kremlin want the war
02:46to end, or at least for Putin to make defense spending cuts to ease the burden. Russia's biggest brains
02:52are issuing a similar call through their actions as they battle tax increases, faltering investment,
02:56double-digit interest rates that currently stand at 14.5% and a complete dearth of new ideas coming
03:02out of the Kremlin. And what is Putin's answer to all of this? He wants to spend even more on
03:07his war.
03:08Every single call being made by those who can see the disaster that lies ahead for Russia is
03:13being resisted by Russia's defense ministry. Don't worry about the people or the businesses,
03:18military officials say as they follow Putin's orders. Just pump more money into a fight that's
03:22going nowhere. United24 media reports that Russia's defense ministry is demanding more funding as it
03:28battles to cover a shortfall that is set to reach around 3 trillion rubles, or around $41.7 billion in
03:342026. The same ministry also points to the economy that Putin has created as the reason why it should be
03:40given more money. Military contracts rule all in Putin's Russia right now. If the defense ministry
03:46spends less, fewer contracts are issued, and the few companies that are thriving in Russia right
03:50now will start to collapse just like everything else. This is the trap that Putin has created for
03:55himself. If he withdraws from the war, he may stand a chance of saving Russia's economy, but the
04:00humiliation caused by his failure will weaken his power base to the point where he'll be more vulnerable
04:05than he's ever been before. But if he keeps going with the war and funnels more money into military
04:09contracts, he cripples Russia for the sake of a fight that has seen Ukraine seize the initiative as
04:14we come closer to the end of the first half of 2026. Russian gains are minimal, and the country is
04:19actively losing ground in some areas. In a June 1st report, the Institute for the Study of War, or ISW,
04:26highlights Putin's main problem. ISW observed evidence to assess the Russian forces gained control
04:31of or infiltrated 40.64 square kilometers between December 2025 and May 2026. Russian forces, however,
04:39lost 281.1 square kilometers in the same period when only considering territory that Russian forces
04:44control, the think tank says. And this stagnation on the battlefield is also bringing death to Russian
04:50soldiers in record numbers. Ukraine says that Russia lost more than 35,000 soldiers per month in
04:55both March and April, with daily casualty figures hovering around the 1,400 mark toward the end of
05:01May. We're likely to see similar or larger figures for that month. Russia has traded all of these dead
05:06soldiers for minimal gains in Ukraine's east and outright losses in the south. None of this is
05:11sustainable on the manpower front. But Putin never really worries about the meat he feeds into the
05:15grinder. What he should be worrying about is what he has done to Russia to sustain his war. Everyone
05:20sees that Putin is caught in a trap. Still, Russia's leader pushes and the state of Russia right now
05:25tells you everything that you need to know about what lies in the country's future. We've covered some of it
05:30already. The rising budget deficit. The stagnating economy. Officials and business owners who are
05:36practically begging Putin to stop his war so that Russia has a chance of surviving. But right now,
05:41nothing is going to plan for Russia. When officials drafted the country's budget for 2026,
05:46they knew that a funding gap of between 1.2 trillion and 1.5 trillion or up to 20.6
05:51billion dollars would
05:52develop, largely as a result of military spending. That gap has already been blown open into a yawning
05:58chasm. And it's only going to get larger as Putin sacrifices more soldiers and equipment to the war.
06:03Putin might think that he can sustain this with more growth in Russia's defense sector,
06:07but he can't. The spokesman reports that not even that sector is booming like it once was.
06:12During the first few years of the invasion, Russia's state defense industry grew by about 30%,
06:17which is why Russia appeared to be economically healthy up to the end of 2024. Now, sectors that are
06:23tied to Russia's military are only anticipated to record growth in the 4% to 5% range. That means
06:28they've basically hit their peak and it's all downhill from here. And that 0.4% GDP expansion
06:33we mentioned earlier, that was meant to be 1.3% before Russia's economy ministry was forced to
06:38downgrade. Russia's National Wealth Fund is now 60% below the level that it was before Putin launched
06:44his invasion. The country's budget deficit is creeping ever closer to the 3.8% of GDP that it reached
06:50during the
06:50COVID-19 pandemic, which was a disaster at the time but may soon become Russia's new normal.
06:56Still, government spending rises. The first four months of 2026 saw the Kremlin spend 16% more than
07:02it spent during the same period in 2025, even as Russia's economic bubble bursts. Spending on state
07:08procurement rose by 41%, the Statesman reports. This is Putin's response. Let the Russian people
07:14struggle while he shoots for a legacy of one of Russia's great conquerors that is already so far out of
07:19his reach that he'll never attain it. And so we come back to the question that we posed at the
07:23beginning of the video. How did Russia get here? Putin's military spending is just part of a much
07:28larger tale of woe that has engulfed Russia's entire economy. The full story involves Ukraine,
07:33of course. It also involves Russian oil, the absolute collapse of a civilian business sector
07:38that has spent years creaking under the weight of the war, and a drift into stagnation that is
07:43damaging Russian civilians right now and will destroy their way of life in the future.
07:47Let's start with Russia's oil problem. After all, Ukraine has played a huge role in leading
07:52Russia down the rabbit hole of economic oblivion. When Putin invaded Ukraine, he believed that the
07:57country would pose absolutely no threat to Russia. Even if it could defend itself, which it soon showed
08:02that it could, Ukraine didn't have the sorts of long-range weapons that it would need to hurt
08:06Russia inside the motherland. And for a few years, Putin was right. Outside of occasional strike using
08:12Western-made long-range weapons, the majority of the fighting was limited to Ukraine. Russia was
08:17getting off lightly because Ukraine didn't have what it needed to maintain a sustained,
08:21long-range campaign against the critical oil industry that pumps money into the Russian economy.
08:26Oh, how times have changed. It's 2026 now, and we're over four years deep into the special
08:32military operation that was supposed to last for a few days. Ukraine has evolved to become one of the
08:37strongest military nations in Europe, and has spent the last four years developing new and stronger
08:41drones that can strike thousands of kilometers deep into Russia. As has so often been the case
08:46during his invasion, Putin drastically underestimated Ukraine's capabilities. Now Russia is paying the
08:52price as Ukraine conducts a campaign to cut off the economic lifeblood that has allowed Russia to
08:56sustain Putin's war for so long. In a June 1st report, United24 media revealed that Ukraine's military
09:03has successfully targeted 15 Russian oil refineries since the beginning of 2026, with many of those
09:09refineries being victims of multiple strikes by the long-range weapons that Putin never thought
09:14Ukraine would develop. Through these strikes, Ukraine has effectively neutralized almost 40% of Russia's
09:20entire refining capacity as of the end of May. That's important. Through refining, Russia turns crude oil
09:26into dozens of usable products, with the most important being gasoline, diesel, and aviation fuel,
09:31that its military uses and that commands a premium when sold to other countries.
09:36These refinery strikes are being accompanied by repeated attacks against Russian oil terminals
09:41and storage facilities, meaning Ukraine strikes both at the source of Russia's economic lifeblood
09:45and at the maritime arteries that enable the country to export its liquid gold
09:49so that billions of dollars can flood into Putin's war chest. The logic here is clear. Take away the oil,
09:56and you take away the money. And if the money disappears, Russia has to keep plunging itself deeper into debt
10:01to sustain Putin's insane defense spending. That's what we're seeing now.
10:06Domestically, these strikes create plenty of economic problems. Refineries are expensive to run.
10:11They require multi-million dollar pieces of equipment, which is what Ukraine is targeting.
10:15Every repair that Russia has to make doubles the pain. Money is spent making the repairs,
10:20and it's lost for every day that the equipment is out of commission and unable to complete its role in
10:24the refining process. Shortages of fuel abound in Russia. Strict controls are being imposed on
10:30the sale of gasoline and diesel, which RBC Ukraine says extend all the way to New Moscow.
10:35In occupied Crimea, citizens are already being limited to buying just 20 liters of fuel per person.
10:40The knock-on effects of all this on Russian businesses can't be underestimated.
10:44Gas stations are making less money. Any industry that relies on fuel to function,
10:49from transport to civilian industry, is forced to cut back operations until the situation improves.
10:54Even something as simple as civilians not being able to travel for work all impacts the Russian
10:59economy. The result of all of this is that Russia's civilian businesses are struggling.
11:04But that's a problem that we'll dig deeper into later. Sticking with Russian oil and the country's
11:09energy market at large, the fuel restrictions don't just impact the country domestically.
11:14Exports are already being affected. Russia has banned the export of aviation fuel until
11:18November 30, which is a direct result of Ukraine's refinery and energy infrastructure attacks.
11:24We're seeing something similar happen with gasoline. On April 2, Interfax reported that the Kremlin
11:29had extended a ban on gasoline exports to include the producers of the fuel, along with the pre-existing
11:35ban on exports by non-producers. That restriction will last until the end of July, but the odds are
11:40high that it will run longer if Ukraine maintains the tempo of its energy strikes. Spoiler alert,
11:45Ukraine will maintain the tempo. The inability to export fuel is crippling for Russia, especially
11:51as Operation Epic Fury has resulted in the prices of oil and the products made using oil rising.
11:56This should be a time for Russia to make hay while the sun shines, but as Deputy Prime Minister
12:00Alexander Novak reveals, that simply isn't happening. It's clear that there is a shortage of petroleum
12:05products on the global market today. Prices have risen significantly higher than oil prices.
12:10Everyone usually looks at oil prices, but prices for petroleum products are breaking all records.
12:15We see that refining is declining owing to the lack of oil. Many countries that rely on oil supplies and
12:20refine domestically have banned exports, including China, Novak said in the wake of Russia's gasoline
12:26export ban being announced. Novak is making excuses here. And you could also interpret this as a veiled
12:31message from another of Russia's officials to Putin that the Ukraine war needs to end. After all,
12:37Russia will be able to rake in billions if so much of its fuel wasn't being dedicated to the Ukraine
12:41invasion. But it can't. The war has to go on as Putin has caught himself in a trap. So Russia
12:46gets
12:47export restrictions, loses billions of dollars and plunges deeper into the economic chasm from which
12:52it can't escape. We're already seeing the shift in terms of what Russia can and can't do with its oil
12:57products. Exports are out and they'll likely remain that way for as long as Ukraine's drones fly.
13:02Naturally, there's a major financial impact to all of this. But before we dig deeper into that,
13:07this is the military show. And there's a lot more where this comes from. If you're getting value from
13:11the channel, make sure you hit subscribe so you can see more of our analysis.
13:15In a May 13th report, Reuters revealed that Russian oil outputs were down 460,000 barrels per day in
13:21April when compared to the same month in 2025. That's the last thing that Putin wanted to see in a
13:26month
13:26where Russia would still have been able to take advantage of oil prices hovering around the $100 per barrel mark,
13:31due to the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Still, the Strait closure at least allowed Russia
13:36to make more money from its oil than it otherwise would. Far more worrying for Putin is what was
13:40happening before a one-off event came to Russia's rescue. In February, Investing.com revealed that
13:46the oil tax-related income that the Kremlin drew from oil sales had dropped by 50% in January 2026,
13:52when compared to the same month in 2025. A similar drop-off has been seen in the combined oil and
13:57gas
13:57sectors. At the same time, Russian Ural's crude was trading at about $26 per barrel.
14:03The number is higher now, however, Russia is in a position where it's relying on external factors
14:07to prop up its oil sales. Once Operation Epic Fury ends and the Strait of Hormuz fully reopens,
14:13Russia will be right back to where it was at the beginning of the year, assuming that oil prices
14:17normalize. Now, throw Ukraine's refinery, depot and terminal attacks into the equation.
14:22Those are problems that will exist and grow worse for as long as Putin continues his war.
14:27The Operation Epic Fury Band-Aid will peel off and what will be left is the gaping energy sector
14:32wound that Ukraine has opened up. Russia's economy can't recover if it's relying on events elsewhere
14:37for the occasional windfall, which is already limited by the Kremlin's export restrictions.
14:42As for Ukraine, it isn't slowing down on the strike front. If anything, the already impressive
14:46results it's achieved during the first few months of 2026 are only going to be built upon.
14:51Records are being broken. Do you remember when we told you that Ukraine had hit 15 of Russia's
14:56refineries in 2026? Extend that timeline to the entire war and the number rises to 24 of Russia's
15:0233 largest refineries, Euromiden Press reports. Right now, the outlet says, the only Russian
15:09refineries that are outside of Ukraine's strike range are in Omsk and Angarsk. And if Ukraine has
15:14shown us anything these past four years, it's that it will constantly build on its drone technologies
15:19to the point where those refineries, which are east of the Urals, will come into range.
15:23As for records, May was a major month for Ukraine's oil strikes. On June 1st, the commander of the
15:29Unmanned Systems Forces of Ukraine, Robert Brovdy, revealed that Ukraine had hit more than 18 oil and
15:35gas infrastructure targets in May. That's a record-breaking number and, according to Brovdy,
15:40more than half of the targets that Ukraine struck have been forced to suspend or outright cease their
15:45operations. Again, this is all money that is being lost to repairs and the inability to extract,
15:51refine and sell oil products. Bit by bit, Ukraine is costing Russia billions. And at a time when the
15:57Russian state deficit is ballooning, the country's national wealth fund is being depleted amidst massive
16:02military spending. These are losses that Putin can't afford, but he keeps on spending anyway. With his
16:07fingers plugged firmly into his ears, he ignores the ringing alarm bells and calls on Russia's
16:12economists to find solutions to the country's financial woes that simply don't exist. Each
16:17time one of Ukraine's flying sanctions strikes, Russia's lifeblood is drained. Speaking of sanctions,
16:23that brings us to another of the major issues that have helped to lead Russia into its current
16:26situation. They took their time, but sanctions are now starting to cause severe problems for Russia.
16:32That's according to David O'Sullivan, who is an Irish official. He spoke to The Guardian in February,
16:37where he declared that Western sanctions are far from a silver bullet, but they are finally starting to
16:41have the sort of impact on Russia's economy that they need to have to make it even harder for Putin
16:46to escape from the trap that he's created for himself.
16:49I am fairly bullish. I think that the sanctions have really had a significant impact on the Russian
16:53economy," O'Sullivan told The Guardian, adding.
16:56We may be, in the course of 2026, coming to a point where the whole thing becomes unsustainable,
17:01because so much of the Russian economy has been distorted so much by the building up of the war
17:05economy at the expense of the civil economy. I think defying the laws of economic gravity can
17:10only go on for so long. Indeed, the Western sanctions are far-reaching and have been implemented
17:15at a scale that Russia has never seen before. At the time of O'Sullivan's comments, the European
17:19Union alone had implemented 19 rounds of sanctions, impacting more than 2,700 individuals and entities
17:27across almost every economic area of Russia. The number of rounds is now up to 20. Castellum says that
17:33Russia is creaking under the weight of 26,655 sanctions, 23,960 of which have been implemented
17:41since Putin launched the full-scale invasion. The US is the heaviest hitter when it comes to the
17:46sheer number of sanctions it has in place, with 7,392. However, Canada, Switzerland, the EU, France,
17:54the UK and Australia have all implemented sanctions in the thousands, all of which make it harder for
17:59Russian businesses to operate. Here's why sanctions matter. Let's use the Russian oil refineries as an
18:05example once more. When Ukraine hits one of those refineries with its flying sanctions,
18:09whatever Ukraine hits needs to be repaired. That's the problem for Russia. Much of the machinery that
18:15keeps its refineries running requires components that need to be purchased from the countries that
18:19have sanctions in place. Now Russia can skirt these sanctions, been doing that since the beginning of
18:26the year. In the case of acquiring Western components, Russia can have third countries purchase those
18:31components first, after which it buys them indirectly. But that's far more troublesome than
18:36simply buying directly. Russia has to wait longer to get the components it needs. It also has to pay
18:41what we could call a finder's fee on top of the cost of these components to incentivize third countries
18:45to help Russia skirt sanctions. Refineries stay offline longer and Russia spends even more money.
18:51This is a microcosm of an issue that affects all Russian companies that the West is sanctioned.
18:55And over the long haul, the problem costs Russia billions of dollars,
18:59the effects of which are now finally starting to be felt. The President of the European Commission,
19:04Ursula von der Leyen, agrees with O'Sullivan that the sanctions problem is finally catching up to
19:09Putin. Yes, the sanctions having a biting effect on the Russian economy, Euronews reported von der Leyen
19:15stating on May 8th. She adds, the consequences of Russia's war of choice are being paid for out of
19:20people's pockets. Keep those people in mind, we'll be coming back to them. Combine Ukraine's
19:25energy infrastructure strikes with sanctions and you get a nightmare scenario for Putin.
19:29And again, he's stuck in the trap. Sanctions aren't going away anytime soon. The only prospect
19:35of that happening is if the war ends, and Putin isn't going to pull the plug on that.
19:38So there will be more sanctions, more pressure, and as Putin continues to funnel money into Russia's
19:43defense industry, the third of our major causes of Russia's economic woes will go from rearing its head
19:48to sounding yet more alarms. Russia's civilian business sector is being crippled.
19:54In a May 30th report, the Kyiv Post said that Russia's domestic market has been fractured into
19:59what it calls a dual economy. On one side, you have the overheated military-industrial complex into
20:04which Russia has funneled billions of dollars and enormous amounts of its workforce. On the other
20:09side, there are civilian sectors. Right now, they're dealing with labor shortages, sky-high costs of
20:14doing business and major capital issues, both in terms of the increased taxes they're being forced
20:19to pay and the difficulties they face in getting access to the cash they need to operate. The stats
20:24bear all of this out. The Kyiv Post reports that the Center for Macroeconomic Analysis and Short-Term
20:30Forecasting has revealed that the past three months have seen toxic and non-performing assets within the
20:35Russian banking sector exceed the internationally recognized prices threshold of 10%. That organization
20:41is pro-Kremlin, by the way. This amounts to even more insiders trying to get Putin to wake up to
20:46the problems that he's created. Non-military companies inside Russia reported losses of 7.5
20:52trillion rubles, or about $103 billion, between January and November 2025. Those losses were spread
20:59across 18,200 companies, which is the highest number of Russian businesses that have reported making
21:04losses since the pandemic. The manufacturing, mining and wholesale sectors were the worst affected,
21:09and these losses are even higher than the projected state budget deficit that Russia currently has.
21:14It's an equation that doesn't add up. Russia's businesses are losing money. That means there's
21:19less revenue for the Kremlin to tax, which feeds into the budgetary problems that are only being
21:23made worse by Putin's stubborn refusal to see any solution to the crisis that he's created that
21:29doesn't involve the continuation of the war. The decline among Russian civilian sector businesses
21:34has continued into 2026. In a May 19 report, IntelliNews revealed that 68.7% of Russia's micro-,
21:41small-, and medium-sized businesses reported that their revenues had declined in early 2026.
21:46About 31% of Russia's small business owners considered shutting up shop during the first quarter of the
21:51year, which is the highest percentage seen since Putin invaded Ukraine. All of those businesses are
21:56dealing with a 2% increase in value-added tax, along with the 14.5% interest rates and high
22:02levels of
22:03inflation that we mentioned earlier. Returning to banking, there were 60 banks in Russia making
22:08losses in March 2026, which is about 20% of Russia's entire banking sector. And again, this is the worst
22:14figure in Russia since 2022. What Putin has created here is a compounding issue. The more he pumps into a
22:20military-industrial sector that is already starting to stagnate, the more he takes away from Russia's
22:25civilian enterprise. Is any entrepreneur going to want to start a business in these kinds of conditions,
22:30where they have to pay more in taxes and interests on loans than ever before? Unlikely. The businesses
22:36that already exist are dealing with labor being swallowed up by Russia's defense industry, along
22:40with all of the economic problems that exist in Russia. Ultimately, these businesses become less
22:45productive. Most that export products or services generate less revenue than they have in the past,
22:50which only makes the problem worse for Putin. He's already watching Russia's energy sector take a
22:54beating. When civilian businesses are struggling as they are, they're in no position to pick up the
22:59slack. They're being strangled too, and the impact is clear for everybody to see. In a May 9th report,
23:05Forbes revealed that a quarter of Russia's bond market is now at risk of default, as a slew of
23:10businesses that borrowed money at low rates before the war now face refinancing at much higher rates.
23:15The non-payment of commercial bills in Russia had already hit 109 billion dollars in January,
23:20the outlet reports. There's a house of cards here, and it's on the verge of falling.
23:24When bills aren't being paid, banks struggle. If the banks collapse, Russia loses the financial
23:30institutions that are trying to hold everything together, which will be yet another catastrophe
23:34for a country that is already in the economic doldrums. And then there are the Russian people.
23:39Ultimately, all of this economic pain that Putin has created by guiding himself into the trap that is
23:44his special military operation, is being absorbed by everyday Russians. The spectre of recession looms
23:50large in Russia as Putin kills his country's civilian sector to keep his war going. Stagnation
23:55has already arrived. Russia's GDP grew by just 1% in 2025, and the forecasts for 2026 that we've
24:02already shared are even lower. According to the new voice of Ukraine, the composite leading indicator
24:07that signals the Russian economy's entry into recession has been above 0.44 since November 2025.
24:13The critical threshold is 0.12. Recession is coming, and there's no rapid recovery in sight.
24:20Every fact that we've discussed in this video highlights how Putin's war has come home. The
24:25Russian people are bearing the brunt of all of this, with the Telegraph reporting that opposition
24:29momentum is building as the economic pain caused by Putin's war becomes unbearable. Putin's response
24:34has been typical. As he faces backlash from his people, the Kremlin has cracked down on internet access
24:39and blocked the use of apps like Telegram, all in a desperate effort to keep the discontent under control.
24:45Trust in Putin is at an all-time low. Kremlin-linked pollster VTSIOM says that the trust reached
24:51a wartime low of 71% in April, and the Lavada Center said in March that 67% of Russians
24:57now want
24:58Putin to move toward peace negotiations. But Putin doesn't listen. He never does. Instead, he tries to
25:04create the illusion that he isn't caught in a trap. At the time of creating this video, Putin is hosting
25:08the fifth St. Petersburg International Economic Forum since the invasion. Derided by Reuters as
25:14the Russian Davos, that conference is supposed to produce new relationships and ideas for boosting
25:19Russia's economy, but it won't. There's nothing that can be done as long as Putin continues his war,
25:24as all he'll keep doing is plowing money into the Russian defense sector. Ukraine's drones will
25:29continue to fly. More sanctions will come. Russia's civilian business sector and its civilians will
25:35continue their collapse. And there will be Putin, stuck in his hole, pretending that none of this
25:39is his fault. And as the crisis explodes in Russia, Ukraine just keeps plugging along with devastating
25:45long-range strikes that can only make the pain worse. In recent devastating strikes, Ukraine took
25:51out a Russian frigate and missile corvette to weaken Putin's Black Sea posture. That's more money
25:56that Russia needs to spend on military equipment. And you can find out all about these strikes and
26:00what they mean for Russia by watching our video. And if you enjoyed this analysis of the crippling
26:04situation that Putin has created for his country, then hit subscribe. There's a lot more where this
26:09comes from on The Military Show. And thank you as always for watching.
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