“Why doesn’t Russia simply give up in Ukraine?” A question posed on the Reddit platform has sparked a wave of comments and explanations about the reasons why the Kremlin continues the war.
“I have some vague ideas about the reasons why, politically, they cannot give up, but, in general, it seems to me that they are not achieving their goals. They have been involved in this war for almost five years and, from my perspective, they seem stuck in a deadlock. I might be completely wrong and maybe things are actually going very well for them, but I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking here,” the user wrote.
The war in Ukraine, compared to the one in Vietnam
The question he posed quickly received nearly 2,000 comments. Most users attributed the continuation of the war to the political cost that Vladimir Putin would bear for acknowledging a failure, but they also cited Kremlin propaganda, the transformation of Russia’s economy into a war economy, and Moscow’s strategy of gradually wearing down Ukraine. Others pointed out that Russia continues to advance, albeit slowly and with huge losses, and from the Kremlin’s perspective, withdrawal would not necessarily be a more advantageous option.
“From a political standpoint, it’s impossible. Russia finds itself in a situation resembling the sunk cost fallacy, only it’s not quite a fallacy anymore. They can’t leave Ukraine without anything to justify all that they’ve done. Politically, this is impossible”, commented one user.
Someone else compared the conflict to the Vietnam War, which lasted for two decades, until the mid-70s, in which the United States got involved to support South Vietnam against communist North Vietnam, but withdrew after years of fighting.
“This is a kind of super-Vietnam for Russia. It has already profoundly changed it and will continue to change it”, the internet user claimed.
“Putin cannot give up. You have to understand how the political system in Russia works. In short, if he backs down and abandons the war, he will be seen as weak by the oligarchs and will probably end up being forcibly ‘retired’. Out the window,” wrote, ironically, another user.
A commentator has argued that the stakes are indeed the political survival of the Russian leader.
“The moment when Putin publicly acknowledges that he has thrown away four years, the economy of the entire country, and approximately 500,000 victims for nothing, he signs his own condemnation,” he stated.
“The war will not end, at the earliest, until Putin’s death. He is now trapped in it for life. His successor will have a perfect opportunity to pull Russia out of this quagmire, unless he decides, for various reasons, to continue”, was another opinion.
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