BRUSSELS

AS UKRAINE’S 2023 offensive failed from the get-go, Vladimir Putin is said to have measured Russian success by Western boasts: the more the media in New York and London hailed Ukrainian claims, the better he knew his side was doing. They were his greatest allies.

Well, now all this has changed, as the Western press is madly reversing its previous narrative, and, in consequence, the Russian strongman is becoming increasingly concerned that his own forces might not be doing as well as they report.

“It makes sense to Putin,” according to media analyst Hearst Kane of the Citizens Well Corporation. “Before, every time some American or British cheerleader reporter spouted chapter and verse on imaginary Ukrainian successes, he could be sure his own troops were winning. Now that these same mouthpieces are having to concede that the Russians are advancing and the Ukrainians are in difficulty, Mr Putin is left wondering whether he should be afraid. It makes sense. He has trusted the twaddle from the Western press till now. Truth from that same source is a whole new ball game for him. And he’s finding it difficult to accept. He isn’t alone.”