May 16, 2022: The West's new fear: What if Ukraine wins?
Russia has faced a dizzying series of setbacks in its war with Ukraine over the last week:\n\nSweden and Finland are being fast-tracked into NATO membership, which means Russia will soon share an 810-mile border with NATO. More from NYT\n\n\nUkrainian troops pushed the Russians from the outskirts of Kharkiv, Ukraine\u2019s second largest city, and are now approaching the Russian border. Latest from Reuters\n\n\nRussia suffered \u201ccatastrophic\u201d losses during a failed river crossing on May 11, according to The Institute for the Study of War, which notes that \u201cthe military incompetence displayed in that crossing have shaken the confidence\u201d of influential Russian military bloggers.\n\n\nThe UK Ministry of Defense said that the Russian offensive in the eastern Donbas region, the focus of Russian firepower since its retreat from Kyiv, has \u201clost momentum and fallen significantly behind schedule.\u201d The Brits also claimed that Putin has lost one-third of the troops he sent into Ukraine since the start of the February invasion.\n\nOn Sunday, Jens Stoltenberg, NATO\u2019s secretary general, summed up the implications of these developments: \u201cUkraine can win this war.\u201d\nAnd that is exactly the problem according to a growing number of western officials and analysts who fear the fallout from what French President Emmanuel Macron called the \u201chumiliation\u201d of Russia.\nSubscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletter\nRaghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.