Ukraine fightback shows Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin has made a big mistake and his lies can't cover that up – Steve Cardownie

Despite evidence to the contrary, it would seem that Russia is still telling the world that everything is going according to plan.

Ukrainian troops fire with howitzer words Russian lines (Picture: Anatolii Stepanov/AFP via Getty Images)

In response to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s statement that Ukraine will liberate all territories currently occupied by Russian forces, Dmitry Peskov, a “Kremlin spokesman”, said: “The special military operation continues, it continues methodically and in co-ordination with the current plans. All objectives will be fulfilled.”

It has been estimated by Ukrainian Government sources that 46,550 Russian soldiers have died in the first six months of the war and that Moscow’s forces have lost nearly 2,000 tanks, 1,045 artillery systems, 836 drones and 4,011 armoured vehicles since the invasion.

Ben Wallace, the UK Defence Minister, told the BBC last week that Russian losses amounted to 80,000 when deaths, injuries and desertions are taken into account.

Against this backdrop, President Zelenskyy said on Monday night that Ukrainian troops would chase the Russian army “to the border” and “if they want to survive, it’s time for the Russian military to run away. Go home, Ukraine is taking back its own”.

He also said that if Russian troops are “afraid” to cross the border back to Russia they should “surrender”.

According to Ukraine’s southern command, its troops have launched a new offensive in several areas and they broke through enemy lines “in a few hours”.

I wrote last Wednesday – Ukraine’s Independence Day – that “the last thing on Putin’s mind as he ordered the Russian military to invade Ukraine was that, six months later, on Ukraine Independence Day, President Zelenskyy would still be in office”.

So, Mr Peskov, your assertion that the “special military operation continues methodically and in co-ordination with the current plans” may echo the daily diet of misinformation that is fed to the Russian people but it just won’t wash here.

For the last six months, the propaganda emanating from the Kremlin would have made Joseph Goebbels, chief propogandist for the Nazis, proud.

When all is said and done, the inescapable fact is that Putin allowed his megalomania to get the better of him and completely miscalculated the Ukrainian population’s reaction to his illegal invasion of their territory!