Ukraine Just HUMILIATED Russia SO BADLY It’s Hard to Watch

As he watched his drab Victory Day parade, Vladimir Putin wondered how it came to this.A military parade with none of the hardware is barely a military parade at all.But this humiliation isn't what would have been on Putin's mind that day.Another embarrassment was happening elsewhere, as Ukraine did something that left Putin with egg on his face in front of the entire world.It's almost too hard to watch.

Something that took Russia months to steal has been reclaimed by Ukraine, as Russia's army is increasingly stretched.

As Putin watched his sad parade go by with barely a whimper, never mind the powerful scream it's supposed to generate, he would have looked back on the past few months with shame.Russia's all -powerful army is supposed to be steamrolling through Ukraine.The Grand Spring Offensive is well underway, and Ukraine is meant to be crumbling.But the reality, as the Institute for the Study of War, or ISW, points out, is that Russia has made almost no significant operational progress during the past year, and it doesn't look likely to make any major breakthroughs anytime soon.

Now, no operational progress doesn't mean no progress at all.Russia's soldiers are advancing, albeit at a rate that would make a sloth blush.What this means is that Russia has taken nothing of any real consequence for months now.

And what it's gained has come at the cost of losses so severe that any other modern military would take them as a sign that it's time to withdraw, regroup, and maybe come up with another plan.

As the ISW puts it, Russian forces managed to seize Toretsk in August 2025 after a 14 -month campaign, Sibirsk in a 41 -month campaign, and Pokrovsk in January 2026 after a two -year campaign, all of which resulted in high Russian casualties and equipment losses.

Russia has capitalized on none of these gains, the ISW adds, and the fact that we only have three major settlements to talk about over 41 months is a damning indictment of just how pathetic Putin's campaign in Ukraine has become.These figures also highlight just how long it's taking for Russia's poorly trained troops to make their game.Campaigns last for multiple years to take single towns and cities.

That isn't dominance.It's the result of Putin's delusions over the power of the Russian military.Then we come to the Donetsk Fortress Belt.According to an April 17th report in the Kyiv Independent, Putin has set his soldiers the goal of taking the Donbass region by September.For that to happen, the Donetsk Fortress Belt has to collapse.Russia's spring and summer offensives are supposed to make that happen, but like so much of Russia's offensive up to this point, it's barely making any progress.

The only advances Russia has made against the fortress belt are in Konstantinovka, which Putin's patsies started to infiltrate using tiny units of soldiers as far back as October 2025.Those infiltration units haven't gained any major ground, and they have failed to set the stage for larger Russian offensives, the ISW reports.

Russia is supposed to take all of the Donbass by September, but it's mid -May already, and all that Russia's forces have managed to achieve is scratching the surface of the southern tip of the fortress belt.

We're calling it right now, September will come and go, and Russia will still have made no meaningful progress.Its record against less world -offended cities is enough to show us that Russia will be shattering its forces against the fortress belt for a long time, and right now, we're seeing barely more than a stalemate.Compounding Putin's humiliation is that the last few disastrous months of his invasion aren't just about Ukraine's defenses stopping his forces in their tracks.

Putin's real problem is that Ukraine has been making gains as all of this is happening.Stick with us and we'll explain more.For now, as Putin stood watching Russia's paltry Victory Day parade, he thought that the ceasefire he had declared for the special day might be enough to stop his humiliation.

At least for a few hours, but Putin was wrong.Russia's own desperation, combined with Ukraine supposedly continuing the fight during Putin's self -declared ceasefire, put an end to those hopes.Though the ISW reports that the overall tempo of operations decreased during the ceasefire, fighting continued.Russia was quick to throw accusations at UkraineIt claimed that Ukraine violated the ceasefire 8 ,970 times, the ISW reports, with that figure breaking down into 7 ,151 drone strikes, 1 ,173 artillery, mortar, and multiple launch rocket system attacks, and 12 ground assaults.Russia doesn't have much room to talk here.

It launched an airstrike against Ukraine at about 6pm on May 8th that included an Iskander -M missile and 43 drones, and it's unclear if that strike continued past midnight on May 9th, the ISW reports.This is what you get when you create a hasty and ill -defined ceasefire to protect your precious parade, Putin.Yet more humiliation as you desperately try to vilify Ukraine for violating your meaningless ceasefire.

Now let's contrast Russia's faltering campaign over the last few months with what Ukraine has been doing.We'll head back to December, and Russia was still struggling to take Pokrovsk after almost two years of fighting.During that period, Putin's generals made the claim that Russia had finally taken the city of Kupyansk in Ukraine's northern region of Kharkiv.That would have been an operationally significant advance, but the claim ultimately blew up in Russia's face.By mid -December, Ukraine had launched a devastating counterattack that saw it liberate the vast majority of Kupyansk, leaving Putin's forces in the dust and showcasing that Ukraine's new search and destroy tactics were the perfect counter.to Russia's infiltration strategy.

It was around this point that the narrative started to shift.The momentum was in Ukraine's favor, and 2026 would bring with it yet more embarrassment for Putin.Ahead of the laboring spring and summer offensives, Ukraine went on the attack against the occupied regions in the south of its territory.The result left Putin mortified.During the winter and early spring of 2026, Ukraine managed to liberate about 400 square kilometers of its territory.

With the most recent of those liberations occurring in settlements in the western region of the Zaporizhzhya region, in late April, the ISW reports, as Russia's struggling soldiers bashed their heads against the Donetsk fortress belt that simply isn't moving, resulting in what amounts to a stabbing.further north.Ukraine's southern counterattacks were so effective that April 2026 marked the first time since August 2024 that Russia suffered a net territorial loss.

Ukraine finished that month with a net gain of 116 square kilometers, United24 media reports.

The last time anything like that happened was when Ukrainian forces launched a counter -invasion into Russia's Kursk region, which took Russia months and, according to Ukraine, the loss of more than 63 ,000 soldiers to reverse.Humiliation upon humiliation has piled onto Putin.But hold on a second, Kursk is still a problem for Russia's president.An oblast that is supposed to be free of Ukrainian troops is apparently anything but.That's according to the commander -in -chief of Ukraine's armed forces, Oleksandr Sirsky, who said on May 8th that Ukrainian soldiers are still active in the Kursk region.Despite the constant pressure of the enemy, Ukrainian warriors continue to perform tasks on the territory of Russia.

Our presence in the Kursk region remains, Sirsky claimed.So let's get all of this straight, Putin.Over the last six months, the only operational gains that Russia has made were in Pokrovsk.and those gains came at the end of a two -year campaign that saw Russia churn through tens of thousands of its soldiers.The Grand Spring and Summer Offensives have been launched, and they have made almost zero progress against the Donetsk Fortress Belt.Russia is actively losing ground to Ukrainian counterattacks, to the point where Ukraine is in the black on the net gain front.

And even in Kursk, where Russia thought it had regained full control, Ukrainian soldiers still operate.The tide is turning against Russia, and it's happening in front of the entire world.The Victory Day Parade is meant to be a showcase of Russia's strength.The 2026 edition ended up being just that.As Daua Putin spent 45 minutes watching the shortest parade Russia has put on in years, he would have seen the complete lack of military equipment on display.The danger was too high that Ukraine would strike and Russia needs that equipment inside Ukraine so it can be destroyed by Ukrainian drones.

Only 10 Worldleaders turned up to Putin's special day.The New Voice of Ukraine reports which is less than half of those who showed in 2025.None of Putin's most powerful allies, such as China's Xi Jinping, bothered to show their faces.Xi didn't even send a delegation as a token gesture to Putin.And to cap it all off, Russia was even reduced to parading North Korean soldiers.

Yes, this parade was indeed a showcase of Russian power, just not in the way that Putin wanted it to be.As Russia's leader watched red -faced while a whole lot of nothing went by on May 9th, all he could do was ruminate on the humiliations of the past few months.Russia is supposed to be gaining ground at a record pace, but it's Ukraine that is in the ascendancy.How is all of this happening?That's the only question that Putin can ask himself right now and there are several factors at play that are making Putin the laughingstock of the world.But before we dig into those factors, this is a quick reminder that you are watching the Military Show.

If you haven't subscribed yet, now is the perfect time to hit the button so you never miss our videos.A cacophony of mishaps has afflicted Russia over the last few months, starting with the issue that triggered Ukraine to launch the counteroffensive that has embarrassed Russia so much, communications problems in the Russian military.In early 2026, SpaceX made what many would argue was the long overdue decision to shut down Russia's access to Starlink.

Russia had been using illicit terminals to access the space -bound internet and communications service for years, but the creation of a whitelist that ensures only Ukraine's legitimate terminals work put an end to all of that.

Within hours, Russian communications across the front fell into disarray, as command posts couldn't get in touch with soldiers and Russia's defenses began to collapse in the south.In the immediate aftermath, Russian commanders had to resort to using outdated maps that showed false information about gains, all as soldiers were deployed to the front with no real coordination.Putin followed this up by making the stupid decision to compound these communication challenges with a crackdown on the Telegram social media apps.So desperate was Russia's leader to retain control domestically, that he snatched away another communication tool that thousands of his soldiers were using.The Telegram block was being implemented at around the same time as the Starlink shutdown happened, creating a situation of information degradation on the front lines.Not only did Russian forces no longer know where they were supposed to be going, but they could no longer share real -time intelligence about Ukrainian movement and attacks.

Ukraine took advantage of all of this to attack in the south.We've seen the results.Russia is trying to solve these problems with makeshift measures such as using relay drones and satellite links.But as the Atlantic Council points out, it will likely take several years for Russia to regain the sort of communications efficiency that it had when it was using Starlink.

These communications issues fed into the Ukrainian counterattacks, which in turn created yet another problem for Putin, countering the counters.For months leading up to the Spring Offensive, Russia had been gathering reserves in Donetsk to take on the Fortress Belt.

Those reserves were supposed to support Putin's patsies as they pushed for Pokrovsk, and would then be cycled to the front for the attack on the Fortress Belt.But then Ukraine started retaking swathes of its own territory and Putin was forced to change his plans.Putin had been forced into making choices that he never wanted to make.Now every deployment is tinged with those choices.Does Russia send troops to the priority frontline regions in a vain attempt to make Putin's September Donetsk delusions a reality?Or do those troops have to head south to try to stop Ukraine's counterattacks and reverse the gains that Ukraine has made?

It's a catch -22 for Putin.Focusing on the front line means that southern regions continue to be liberated, which also allows Ukraine to bring soldiers close to the Donetsk region.But heading south means weakening the assaults on the front, leading to further slowdowns beyond those we've already seen.

The point here is simple.Ukraine is dictating the tempo on the battlefield, not Russia.

And while Ukraine is doing that, another humiliation for Putin, and another reason why we now see what we see in Ukraine, is that Ukrainestrategies are driving record troop losses for Russia.Russia is veering ever closer to a manpower crisis as troop casualties are outpacing volunteer recruitment.March 2026 saw Ukraine record around 35 ,000 casualties among Russian forces, all of which have been verified by Ukraine's drone operators.April 2026 brought with it similar results.Over 35 ,000 Russian soldiers killed or wounded, per Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Russia's average daily casualty rate is now well over 1 ,000, and it's only going to grow as the summer sets in, and Russia tries to launch more assaults amidst all of its communication problems and the forced splitting of its focus.One issue feeds into another.And on the casualty front, we also can't ignore what this means for Russia's frontline assaults.Putin's goal is to launch those assaults, gain ground, and have soldiers hold that ground while waiting for backup to arrive, which will allow for further pushes.None of that can happen when Russia's troops are being torn to pieces at record rates.It's taking longer than ever for Russia to take even small amounts of territory.

Back in early April, Ukraine's deputy head of the presidential office, Pavlo Palisa, even pointed out that Russia is now losing 316 soldiers for every square kilometer that it's gaining in the Donetsk region.These types of losses aren't sustainable for Russia, and they're not slowing down.As Russia struggles with recruitment, Ukraine is still racking up the kills.

On May 9th alone, Russia lost 1 ,080 of its soldiers, bringing its total casualties to over 1 .34 million since Putin launched his invasion.Along with the meat, Russia is losing equipment at a massive rate.82 artillery systems, a tank, three armored vehicles, and over 370 regular vehicles and fuel trucks went down under Ukrainian fire on the same day.

Nothing that we're seeing in these numbers is an outlier.May 9th was a pretty standard day for Russia's military, and that alone is an embarrassment to Putin.He's sacrificing an entire generation of Russians and getting almost nothing, operationally speaking.in return.So we have crippled communications, Ukraine controlling the tempo of the battle, and record casualties adding up to humiliate Putin.Also feeding into all of that, the ISW says, is the intensification of Ukraine's medium -range drone campaign.

Ukraine's intensified mid -range strike campaign against Russian logistics, military equipment, and manpower since early 2026 has also degraded Russian forces' ability to conduct offensive operations across the theater, the ISW declares in its report on the state of the Russian offensive.

Indeed, Ukraine doubled the number of these mid -range strikes in April when compared to March.These drone attacks, which take place beyond 20 kilometers, are crippling Russia's near rear.

and what is in that near rear, the logistics that the ISW mentions, command posts that are already struggling to deliver orders, air defenses that guard troop gatherings and are supposed to prevent Ukraine's drones from scoring hits, all of that is falling apart under Ukraine's intensifying medium -range campaign, with the knock -on effect being what we see on the front right now.

Of course, Putin's forces have found themselves in a stalemate in Donetsk.They're not getting support because it's all being blown up behind them.And even as Ukraine intensifies its mid -range attacks, it isn't slowing down on the long -range front.Russia itself is being hit just as hard as the territory that Russia occupies in Ukraine, with a particular focus being placed on oil.Scale is Russia's problem here.Ukraine has gone from launching about 1 ,000 drones into Russia back in August 2024 to around 7 ,000 in March 2026.

Repeated strikes against oil refineries and export hubs are limiting Putin's ability to sell Russia's most valuable resource, as well as to get fuel and oil products to troops in Ukraine.The outcomes here are obvious.Lower profits from oil and gas sales mean less money is flowing into Russia's war chest, and when fuel and oil product shipments to the front are being delayed or outright destroyed, Russian soldiers lose yet another tool that they need to make the advances their leader wants.As we said, it's a cacophony of issues.And they all add up, and often feed into one another to create the situation we see today.Ukraine has all of the momentum, and it's in control of the situation more than Putin ever expected it would be.

So Putin is humiliated.His all -powerful army has delivered none of what he told the world it would be able to do.Even the proclamation that Donetsk should be taken by September is now looking ridiculous for Putin.Zelensky himself says as much.Ukraine's president says that Russia would need up to a million soldiers to topple the fortress belt, which is so many that it's more soldiers than are active in almost any of the world's militaries, barring a handful.Putin has already sacrificed multiple armies worth of soldiers and equipment to get as far as Russia has.

Another million on top just to take Donetsk would turn an embarrassment into an outright catastrophe.Does Putin even see all of this happening?If he does, he should be mortified.But it's starting to look like this is a man who is so wrapped up in his own delusions that embarrassment no longer applies to him.He'll just keep feeding the meat into the grinder as he humiliates his entire country on the global stage.It's hard to watch.

A supposed military superpower is being exposed day after day in Ukraine.A 45 -minute Victory Day parade as Russia loses ground and momentum is now a monument to Putin's failure.He may not know it yet, but the grim pictures captured of that parade may end up being Putin's legacy.Meanwhile, Ukraine continues to force the collapse of Russia's spring offensive in the Donbass.Heavy losses and stalled advances are just the start, as Ukraine has developed a new strategy that it dubs Active Defense.Find out what that is and why it's making all the difference in the Donbass by watching our video.

And if you enjoyed this video, remember to subscribe to the Military Show to see more of our analysis of what's happening in Ukraine.And thank you as always for watching.