Overview
- The conflict hit its 1,418th day on January 11–12, equaling and now surpassing the duration of the Soviet wartime period celebrated in Russia.
- The Soviet Great Patriotic War ran from June 22, 1941, to May 9, 1945, lasting 1,418 days.
- Vladimir Putin has repeatedly leaned on World War II memory to justify the invasion, a frame that is strained by this unwelcome parallel.
- Ukrainian outlets call the marker symbolic and shameful for Russia and argue Moscow has failed to achieve its stated strategic objectives.
- Commentary notes Russia began with one of the world’s largest arsenals yet is described by independent Ukrainian media as having become an outsider, with analysts casting the conflict as a long war of attrition comparable in length to World War I.