Volodymyr Kukharenko

Helping translation companies to automate business and project management | ℙ𝕣𝕠𝕥𝕖𝕞𝕠𝕤 𝕋𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕤𝕝𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝔹𝕦𝕤𝕚𝕟𝕖𝕤𝕤 𝕄𝕒𝕟𝕒𝕘𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕊𝕪𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕞

National Technical University of Ukraine ‘Kyiv Polytechnic Institute’  Protemos

Ukraine

April 16, 2026

Everyone who bets on Russia eventually loses.

Look at the pattern:

Bashar al-Assad: propped up for years, then his regime collapsed anyway. Russia didn’t save him in the end.

Nicolás Maduro: heavily dependent on Moscow, asking for help, but getting mostly words instead of real support when it matters.

Viktor Orbán: one of the most loyal voices in Europe. The moment he lost power, the Kremlin instantly distanced itself. “We were never friends.”

Armenia hoped Russia would help against Azerbaijan. Nothing.

The United Arab Emirates built close ties with Moscow. Hosted Russian elites. Welcomed Vladimir Putin as a valued guest. And what do they get? Iranian drones and war spilling into their territory. Hundreds of attacks, civilians killed. And behind those drones? A growing Russia–Iran military cooperation.

Even Iran itself, after supplying drones and technology, complains that Russia gives almost nothing back when it’s their turn to need help.

That’s the core principle: Russia uses its partners. It does not protect them. No security guarantees. No real loyalty. Only short-term benefit for Moscow.
And then comes the next lesson.

Politicians in the West who think they can “work with Russia” or gain something by weakening Ukraine should pay attention.

JD Vance proudly talks about reducing support for Ukraine. But history is very consistent: those who help Russia weaken others, eventually become weaker themselves.

Because Russia does not build alliances. It builds dependencies, And then it abandons them.

Comment from :

Paul .D. Shipman 🕊🇱🇧

Medically retired police officer followed by other occupations. Author.

It appears Trump is tacitly supporting Russia viz-a-viz his voiced intention not to support NATO or Ukraine in future.

Here is Vance, proud of helping putler to murder Ukrainians :

……………….

Russian propagandists, who call themselves “military correspondents”, are starting to whine everywhere. Everything is bad and getting worse, they say.

They are all complaining that the Russian army is losing too many people and cannot advance. They describe torture and executions carried out by their own unit commanders. Some Russian deserters record videos saying they fled because their commanders demanded large sums of money from subordinates in exchange for not sending them into suicide attacks. They also say that even mobilization will not save them, it will only result in more Russians being killed by Ukrainian drones. They no longer come closer than 15 km from the frontline, because they know Ukrainian drones kill everyone who’s not hidden. They lost 35k in March from drones alone, with video proofs. There are also other casualties, executions, suicides, deserters, prisoners…

They are panicking as they watch Ukrainian drones destroy Russian oil infrastructure and weapons factories, warning that if this continues, the economy could collapse. In despair, they ask why Russia cannot do the same.

They envy the Ukrainian army’s organization and meritocratic system. Imagine this. The current Ukrainian Commander of Drone Forces, Madyar, was just a lieutenant when the war started. Now he holds a position equivalent to a general, because he is effective. The advisor to the Minister of Defense is a volunteer fundraiser who understands what the troops need. Ukrainian drone operators receive e-points for each successful strike, which they can use to obtain more drones. Such people would have no chance in the rigid and formal Russian system dominated by gerontocracy.

And Ukraine has many drones producers that compete each other. Drones are getting scores from the soldiers, and the best ones are purchased the most, evolution goes on. Russian control freaks have a centralized system with one authority, slow and ineffective. And they can’t change it, just because this is how things work in Russia.

At the same time, regional Russian TV and bloggers show how people live in occupied territories. Donetsk, once one of the richest Ukrainian cities, has been turned into a ghost town where many people lack water and electricity. This is what the promised “prosperity with Russia” looks like in reality.

Again, all of the above is not Ukrainian propaganda. It is not written by Russian opposition figures in exile. It comes from those who have fanatically supported the war and genocide all this time. I have personally seen many of these videos.

They are demoralized. They no longer believe. They see that disaster is approaching. Yet they still do not dare to draw the obvious conclusion. The war only makes things worse for Russia, and it should be stopped. Instead, they lack the courage and continue marching into the abyss like lemmings.

Comment from :

David Flood

Director at Commercial Property Ltd

Thank you for the article Volodymyr. It is encouraging to see that it is dawning on the Russians that they cannot win this war and to continue will only heap death and destruction upon them. They need to leave Ukraine and find a new leader. Slava Ukraine 🇺🇦 🇪🇺 🇬🇧

……………………

An American partner asks me, “how things are going in Ukraine?”. This is my answer to him:

Things here are relatively stable at the moment. The cold winter is over, we are not freezing anymore, there are much less electricity supply problems.

The Russian advance has been stopped, and life in Kyiv is almost back to normal, if you ignore the air raid alarms and air defence shooting every second night. At least they are no longer making progress; our drone troops are hunting each of them as they are making efforts to advance.

But not being able to deal with our army, they are terrorising civilians. Every day, someone gets killed by their drones, rockets or bombs. At home, at work, while going to work, far from the frontlines. It has become so routine that is not even making news headlines abroad anymore. Every day I see photos of people who were murdered for nothing, with children among them. I understand that I am playing this lottery too.

Regarding Iran, I have mixed feelings. On one hand, many of the drone technologies used against us were supplied by Iran, along with training and components. So on an emotional level, it feels like a form of karma, especially since we are already seeing fewer drone attacks due to disrupted supply chains.

On the other hand, rising oil prices are strengthening Russia’s ability to finance the war, as oil remains their primary source of income. That said, Ukraine has been targeting key oil export infrastructure, particularly in ports, which should limit those gains.

Interestingly, Russia has even cancelled its Victory Day parade on May 9 in Moscow due to security concerns. This is quite unprecedented, given how significant this day is for them. It’s the first time they are cancelling it.

On a personal note, I do miss the times when I could travel freely, both for business and with my family. I haven’t had a vacation in over four years, and it does have an impact, including on business and sales.

Still, I remain optimistic. The war will eventually end, and I strongly believe Ukraine will emerge as a much stronger country, both militarily and economically. Right now, it is an underestimated asset, but that will change. The only question is when. It may still take years for Russia to fully realise that its efforts are futile and that they are killing themselves for no reason.

Comment from :

Tanya Gatheridge

Ukraine Operations; Projects; Super-connector; Problem solver; Property Development

My thoughts particularly go out to the men and women who have fought and are still holding the ground defence of Ukraine in their hands for years in bunkers and trenches. They are exhausted and need rest and rotations. For them, this is a whole other level of pain – especially when they cannot see family for months on end.