Ukraine Situation ‘Much Worse’ for Moscow Than 2014, Russian TV Pundit Says

A Russian state television host is concerned that Russia is in a worse state in its war against Ukraine than it was in 2014.

The war has soured Russia’s relationship with the West, which has imposed increasingly strict sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin, and in one episode on Russia-1, a popular Russian television channel, Moscow University professor of defense and security Aleksey Fenenko expressed concern that Ukraine’s counteroffensive measures have worsened Putin’s war in Ukraine and that Russia is suffering more than it did when it seized Crimea in 2014.

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, for what many expected to be a quick victory, but it has evolved into a 16-month war, with both sides seeing victories and devastating losses, with no end in sight.

The front lines of the battle have shifted to Bakhmut, and despite a renewed offensive effort by Russia and the temporary aid of Wagner Group soldiers, Ukraine has maintained its hold on Bakhmut while the spirit of the Ukrainian people remains strong. There have been recent drone attacks of unknown origin extending into Moscow that the Kremlin has blamed on Kyiv, which denies the claims.

“Only now the situation, unlike in 2014-2015, is much worse for us,” Fenenko said. “Why? Because politically back then it looked like that Ukraine is at war with the people’s republics, which are being supported by Russia. That is, Russia as a key player, did not enter. And a lot of people were saying that if Russia did, then Ukraine would be finished.

“Now, what happens in the new configuration, according to their logic, it turns out that Russia joined and could not achieve a decisive success as the Americans said back in April last year, then our last final card is beaten.”

In 2014, protests arose against the Ukrainian government after then-President Viktor Yanukovych rejected a deal with the European Union. Yanukovych fled amid the protests and Russia, which supported him, then annexed Crimea to regain control. However, much of the fighting was done between the Ukraine military and Russian rebels, with the Russian military officially intervening months later.

However, with the military involved from the start this time, some Russian pundits worry it is fighting a losing battle.

“Russian propagandists are not very optimistic about the current situation. They think it is much worse than it was in 2014-15,” Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser at the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, tweeted on Friday, accompanied by a clip of the video.

Newsweek reached out to Putin’s press team and the Center for Strategic and International Studies by email for comment.