From: Transform Ukraine By Douglas Landro / October 9, 2025
As Putin stood before his generals declaring unstoppable progress, Russian investors fled, fuel pumps ran dry, and airliners in Europe aborted landings under drone threat — a single day that revealed how far his theory of victory had drifted from reality.
When Propaganda Collides With Reality
October 8, 2025 — the 1,323rd day of Russia’s war against Ukraine — laid bare the contradiction at the heart of Putin’s campaign. That morning, he stood before his generals, promising unstoppable momentum and inevitable victory. Yet outside the gilded halls of the Kremlin, Russia’s stock market was tumbling to three-year lows, gas stations were rationing fuel, and investors were fleeing. It was a day when illusion met exhaustion — twenty-four hours that exposed the widening gap between what Putin claimed and what Russians could no longer ignore.
A general view of damaged areas after a Russian airstrike on Druzhkivka, Donetsk Oblast. (Jose Colon/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The Speech That Markets Didn’t Believe
In St. Petersburg, beneath the chandeliers of a marble conference hall, Vladimir Putin gathered his top brass on October 7 — defense chiefs, intelligence head Alexander Bortnikov, and the commanders leading Russia’s sprawling front lines. Cameras rolled as he proclaimed inevitable triumph. Russia, he said, had seized 4,900 square kilometers in 2025 — “roughly the size of Delaware.” Ukrainian forces, he claimed, were falling back everywhere. The defense industry was humming. The war would continue “until all objectives are achieved unconditionally.”
Beside him, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov nodded and echoed the refrain: Russian troops were advancing “in practically all directions.” It was classic Putin — the choreography of strength, the denial of weakness, the certainty that Russia’s endurance alone would grind down Ukraine and outlast the West.
But outside that ornate chamber, the façade was already cracking. Independent analysts put Russia’s territorial gains not at 4,900 square kilometers but 3,561 — about 27 percent less than Putin’s boast. The familiar pattern played out again: inflate the map, erase the losses, and claim that victory was inevitable.
By the next morning, the markets rendered their own verdict. The MOEX Russia Index plunged 4.05 percent — its lowest since September 2022. Gazprom fell 4.1 percent, Sberbank 4.9, VTB 4.7, Rosneft 2.5, Severstal 4.9, and Aeroflot 5. Rostelecom, Inter RAO, and Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works each lost more than 5 percent; mining giant Mechel tumbled 6.7. The cause wasn’t battlefield news — it was politics.
That same day, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov admitted what investors had long feared: U.S.–Russia relations were “cracking and collapsing.” The “strong momentum” from Trump’s Alaska summit, he said, was “largely exhausted.” In trying to pressure Washington with threats, the Kremlin had accidentally told the truth — the war wouldn’t end soon, sanctions weren’t lifting, and Russia’s pain was far from over.
Voice of Ukraine 