Le Monde: People Are Laughing At Putin
- 6.07.2026, 9:34
Just like with those elderly Communist bigwigs.
Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to claim that the Russian army is advancing “in all directions” in Ukraine on a daily basis, but these statements are increasingly at odds with the assessments of independent analysts. The French publication Le Monde.
As the newspaper notes, on June 4, Putin claimed that Russian troops had allegedly occupied “about 2,440 square kilometers” of Ukrainian territory. The article emphasizes that these figures do not correspond to data from independent monitoring. According to an analysis by the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW), in May the Russian army lost ground in certain sectors of the front for the second month in a row.
According to Le Monde’s assessment, the front line remains generally stable, the Russian economy is under increasing pressure, and oil refining infrastructure is regularly targeted by Ukrainian drones. Despite this, Putin continues to adhere to his previous rhetoric.
The publication compares the Russian leader to the late leaders of the Soviet Politburo, noting that his public statements are increasingly out of touch with reality. At the same time, the war against Ukraine—unlike the Soviet campaign in Afghanistan—is portrayed by the Kremlin as an existential struggle, which helps maintain public support despite the mounting costs.
Putin also reiterated that he considers it inevitable to establish full control over the Donbas, most of which is already under the control of Russian troops.
“There is no doubt that we will succeed. The same applies to other goals that we will achieve through negotiations—I am referring to denazification,” the Russian president said.
Le Monde notes that during his speech, Putin made no mention of the Ukrainian drone attacks on oil facilities in St. Petersburg that occurred during the International Economic Forum. Although event participants could see plumes of smoke rising over the city, the Russian leader ignored the issue.
The authors of the article suggest that Putin is increasingly finding himself in an information bubble. According to the publication, he does not use email or a cell phone, and his main sources of information remain specially prepared television reports and briefings from his inner circle.
The newspaper believes that this stance complicates the prospects for peace talks. Despite the Kremlin’s statements about its readiness for dialogue, Moscow reportedly prefers to conduct contacts through U.S. President Donald Trump.
The article also states that, according to the Russian authorities, Trump promised to put pressure on Kyiv so that Ukraine would agree to territorial concessions in the Donetsk region. At the same time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated his willingness to meet with Putin in person to discuss a ceasefire, while simultaneously naming the Russian leader as the main culprit behind the war.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had previously offered a similar assessment of the situation.
“In the view of most observers around the world—and, I would say, in the view of some people in Russia itself—the invasion of Ukraine has been a strategic disaster for them,” he said in early June.
According to Rubio, Russia has failed to achieve the goals it set for itself at the start of the full-scale invasion. However, as Le Monde notes, there are no signs yet of a shift in the Kremlin’s position.