President Putin’s broadcast shows a leader running out of time and options

Editorial: His rambling speech is a way of telling Russians he is losing the war in Ukraine, without actually saying so

(Dave Brown)

Not known for his sense of humour, Vladimir Putin seems to be wanting to help out with a new internet meme using the popular formulation “tell me without telling me”.

In the case of the president of the Russian Federation, his rambling speech to his people was his way of telling them that he was losing the war in Ukraine without actually saying so. The partial mobilisation of perhaps 300,000 reservists, new conscripts and ex-conscripts is a clear enough signal that his supposedly clinical “special military operation” isn’t going as well as he hoped when he launched it in February.

The numbers sound formidable, but as so often in Russian military history, it is the quality, equipment, experience and morale of the armed forces that is the critical weakness. Even the Chechen mercenaries, with their reputation for particular savagery, have proved unreliable in the face of spirited Ukrainian attacks.