Almost nine months since his tanks first rolled across the border, it is now clear that Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is an old-fashioned colonial war complete with illegal annexations and the denial of Ukraine’s right to exist.The invasion of Ukraine is rapidly unraveling, with Putin’s demoralized army consistently finding itself outfought and out-thought on the battlefield.Russia has already been forced to retreat from more than half of the territory occupied since the invasion began in February, with most observers expecting Ukraine’s highly motivated and battle-hardened military to liberate more of the country in the coming winter months.Crucially, Putin has never acknowledged Ukrainian agency and has sought to blame each successive Russian failure in Ukraine on the meddling interference of foreign actors.Subscribe to UkraineAlert As the world watches the Russian invasion of Ukraine unfold, UkraineAlert delivers the best Atlantic Council expert insight and analysis on Ukraine twice a week directly to your inbox."