Ukraine Russia war: Mariupol tragedy looks like a victory for Vladimir Putin but may ultimately lead to his defeat – Scotsman comment

With his forces poised to take Mariupol – or what remains of it after weeks of shelling that has destroyed between 80 and 90 per cent of the city – Vladimir Putin claimed he had launched his brutal war of aggression against Ukraine to “help our people living in the Donbas” and promised life “will change for the better”.

Russian soldiers in what was once a theatre in Mariupol (Picture: Alexander Nemenov/AFP via Getty Images)

However, while the expected fall of the city would be a strategically important victory for Putin, linking the eastern breakaway provinces within Luhansk and Donetsk with Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, it may also contain the seeds of his eventual downfall.

For, in the event that Russia takes control of the territory it has conquered, then the people of the Donbas – already aware that Putin’s claims of genocide against Russian speakers in the region are false – will surely come to know of the medieval brutality with which Mariupol was taken.

This was a city that, before the war, had the highest levels of pro-Russian sentiment in Ukraine outside of the breakaway areas.

Now it is highly likely that large numbers of those Mariupol citizens who once felt Russian will regard that country’s actions with horror and contempt. And their views will carry much more weight with pro-Russian people in the breakaway areas and Putin supporters in Russia than any messages from Kyiv or the West.

Furthermore, life within Russian-occupied Ukraine is not going to get better, as people will find themselves ruled by a heartless, power-crazed tyrant and subject to western sanctions and boycotts.

Putin will, of course, attempt to blame the Ukrainian forces or cry “fake news”, but his lies will not protect him forever.

In the latest sign that domestic support for Putin is wavering, a well-known Russian oligarch, Oleg Tinkov, who is not currently in Russia, hit out against the war on social media, saying “I don't see a SINGLE beneficiary of this insane war! Innocent people and soldiers are dying” and that everything in the country was “mired in nepotism, sycophancy and servility”.

The utterly tragic story of Mariupol – of countless lives cut short for no good reason – will spread; there will be many people dedicated to ensuring that it does.

And the truth of Putin’s unconscionable actions will surely destroy him.