The US could make 2026 even worse for Putin than 2025

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The year has started badly for Vladimir Putin. As of Sunday, the war in Ukraine has lasted as long as the Great Patriotic War, as Moscow refers to the Soviet involvement in World War II: 1,418 days.

Stalin’s forces made it to Berlin in that time, but Mr. Putin’s progress has been more modest. Last year Russian troops captured less than 1% of Ukrainian territory.

At this pace, it will take Russia another year to reach the Donetsk border and control the area Mr. Putin is demands Ukraine hand over as a precondition for peace. The U.S.

military’s swift capture of Venezuela’s dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife on Jan. 3 further highlighted Russia’s military weakness. As Russian political analyst Abbas Gallyamov observed: “The brilliant success of the Americans, who showed with Venezuela what a ‘special military operation’ really should look like, further demoralizes the inhabitants of Russia—both ordinary people and the elite.

The contrast between the highest efficiency of the U.S. military and intelligence services and the striking inefficiency of their Russian colleagues is simply too stark." That Mr. Maduro was a crucial ally of the Kremlin made it worse.

Another embarrassment for Mr. Putin came Wednesday, when the U.S. seized an oil tanker south of Iceland that was escorted by the Russian navy.

Pro-war Russian social media whose posts reach millions voiced outrage. “Your ships are seized," one blogger wrote, “and in response to these slaps in the face you only express concern, instead of tearing out the enemy’s liver." Adding to Mr. Putin’s problems, his longtime associate Dimitry Kozak, who recently resigned over the war in Ukraine, last month published an ambitious program of reform