The Guardian view on Putin’s war in Ukraine: Moscow’s on the losing side | Editorial

The mistake was to think Ukrainians were waiting to be liberated by Russian soldiers and that the west was too divided to help

Vladimir Putin's illegal war in Ukraine is a turning point in history. But no one knows who will emerge victorious as one era ends and another is born. Before this war, the momentum was with Mr Putin, whose military adventurism paid off in the last decade while the United States, humbled by Iraq, turned inward. However, the Russian president's invasion of Ukraine has been a criminal mistake. Russian soldiers are killing civilians, who share a Slavic identity, and flattening cities in land that gave birth to their country's culture. Mr Putin's unprovoked war against a smaller, democratic neighbour has resulted in 1.7 million people fleeing their homes. This is a humanitarian crisis on the edge of Europe. If war was just a battle for public opinion, Mr Putin would have lost by now.

Moscow understands this dynamic which might explain why it cynically undermined peace talks by offering humanitarian corridors for trapped populations only to shell Ukrainians who attempt to use them. This bodes ill for talks later this week between the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministries in Turkey. Moscow, perhaps for public consumption at home, is seeking to play peacemaker in a war that it started. The Kremlin's spokesperson told Reuters that Russia was ready to halt military operations in a moment" if Kyiv meets a list of conditions, such as recognising Crimea as Russian territory and giving two Russian-majority regions independence. It is hard to see how any government in Kyiv could survive in power if it signed such a land-for-peace" deal.