Foreign Affairs
Putin’s ‘Winter War’ on Ukraine Great powers should never cede to lesser powers the capacity to drag them into unwanted wars.
A Ukrainian soldier tries to warm up on the frontline, in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on November 28, 2022. (Photo by Metin Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Winter has often proven an indispensable ally of Mother Russia. The impending winter of 1812-13 forced Napoleon’s withdrawal from Moscow, a retreat from which his Grande Armee never recovered. The winter of 1941-42 sealed the ultimate fate of the invading armies of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich.
Vladimir Putin’s...