Greg Terry Experience

Russia’s own leaders are telling the world what they believe—and why ignoring their words is a dangerous mistake. Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Medvedev, and Sergey Lavrov delivered a series of statements that reveal how the Kremlin continues to frame Ukraine, the West, and the war itself.

In this update, I explain why listening to the enemy is not the same as agreeing with the enemy. Understanding what Russia’s leadership is saying matters because it tells us how they view this war, how deeply their anti-Ukraine rhetoric runs, and what they are preparing the Russian public to accept.

We examine Putin’s call for national mobilization behind the war effort, Medvedev’s extraordinary language attacking Ukraine and Ukrainians, and Lavrov’s rejection of freezing the current line of contact. Taken together, these statements lead me to one conclusion: Russia is not signaling that it is ready to abandon its objectives in Ukraine.