Sunday, January 11, marked a new significant stage for the war in Ukraine: 1,418 days. This is the duration of the Soviet army’s fight against Germany from June 22, 1941, until Victory Day on May 9, 1945. This means that the war in Ukraine has already surpassed the period in which the USSR soldiers fought the Nazis in World War II, according to The Moscow Times, which added that the myth of Russia’s strength and invincibility has already been shattered.
To separate this victory from its own complicity in the Nazi massacre in Europe, within the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, Soviet historians – and later Russian ones – introduced the concept of the Great Patriotic War, focusing on Moscow’s actions after Operation Barbarossa, the aforementioned source further notes.
Since the early 2000s, Kremlin propagandists have equated Ukrainian democratic forces with nationalists and Nazis, while at the same time using practices – mass deportations, cultural erasure, and systematic violence against civilians – that reflect the very crimes they claim to fight against.
The myth of the Russian army’s strength has been shattered
The lesson to be learned from the 1418 days of genocide against Ukrainians is that the myth of Russia’s strength and invincibility has already been shattered. Even with the support of China, Iran, North Korea, and facilitators such as Cuba and Venezuela, Russia – by far the largest military spender in Europe – cannot completely defeat Ukraine.
Russia’s total war expenditures are estimated at about 540 billion dollars since the large-scale invasion, taking into account broader defense and security spending, compensation given to soldiers’ families, etc. Meanwhile, total Western support of all kinds is about 380 billion dollars.
The contrast with the 1941-1945 period is striking. The Soviet army in World War II pushed the Nazi forces back about 1,500-1,800 kilometers westward, from the outskirts of Moscow to the streets of Berlin.
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