- When Russian forces invaded Ukraine in late February, Putin and other observers expected the country to collapse quickly.
- Over 10 months later, Ukraine is still standing and its troops have even liberated occupied countries.
- During this conflict there were surprises on both sides. Here are 5 of the biggest twists.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin expected a quick and easy victory as his troops invaded Ukraine.
When the Russian leader made his televised declaration of war on February 24 and sent his troops forward for a full-scale invasion, he reckoned that Kyiv would fall in a few days – a grave assessment shared by US and Western leaders Secret services has been repeated as many think tank experts and analysts.
More than 10 months later, the city of nearly 3 million people is still in Ukrainian hands. The country’s armed forces not only managed to withstand the invasion of Moscow on multiple fronts, but even pushed back Russian troops in some areas and liberated thousands of square kilometers of territory that fell to Russian troops earlier in the war.
US officials have described Putin’s war effort in Ukraine as a “failure”. Yet there is still no end in sight to the sight of this devastating conflict that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and left Ukrainian cities in ruins.
The Russian military’s poor performance has surprised Putin and other observers, but it’s just one of several unexpected twists and turns in the last 10 months of the war. Here are some other unforeseen moments.