In Italy, the salon of Lilli Gruber, anchor of the program Otto e Mezzo on the La7 television channel, has become the stage for a cloying and predictable ritual. On one side, journalist Marco Travaglio, on the other, philosopher Massimo Cacciari: both on a promotional tour for their latest book, kindly escorted by the press office of publishers who enjoy a preferential lane denied to any emerging author or small, quality publisher. Between learned quotes and sly smiles, the mantra never changes: a pseudo-pro-Putin script, as worn-out as it is repetitive, peddling the idea of Moscow’s inevitable—if not already settled—triumph. A reality that Kyiv’s stubborn defenders, supposedly fighting ‘to the last Ukrainian,’ simply refuse to accept. Meanwhile, these well-informed experts have been insisting for years that, for the sake of the Ukrainians, this war should have ended two years ago—without ‘wasting’ aid or imposing sanctions that, naturally, ‘only hurt us.’ Of course. But the reality of 2026, outside the TV studios, tells a story that their books—outdated before they even hit the shelves—simply cannot capture.
While 2026 presents a Russia drained both technologically and economically, the Italian public debate remains held hostage by two opposing yet complementary strategic myopias. On one side, the ideological blunders of the ‘realist’ camp—figures like Marco Travaglio and Massimo Cacciari—who are convinced Russia has already won and that Ukraine must surrender for the sake of ‘humanity.’ On the other, the suicidal pragmatism of those like Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, ready to reconnect Russia’s gas pipelines—and his own ties to his Moscow idol—using the Hormuz crisis as a smokescreen. Both positions ignore the facts: we are dealing with a regime backed into a corner, just waiting for us to slip up so it can survive.
The myth of “cannon fodder”
Travaglio and Cacciari tell us of an exhausted Ukraine that must negotiate to avoid unsustainable losses. This is an anachronistic interpretation. In 2026, war is no longer fought with waves of humans, but with silicon. While Russia sacrifices thousands of men in frontal assaults to gain a few meters of mud, Ukraine has become the world leader in drone technology. Any operator in Kiev, protected in a bunker, can neutralize entire distant platoons and refineries hundreds of kilometers away, hitting Russia precisely where it hurts most: its wallet. Asking Ukraine to negotiate now doesn’t mean saving lives, but buying Putin time to bridge a technological gap that is wearing him down.
The Parade of Nothing and the Nightmare Drone on Red Square
The crowning example of Russia’s “non-victory” is the May 9th parade. For the third consecutive year, the “modern” Russian tanks—the T-90 (designed in 1990) and the elusive T-14 Armata—are the notable absentees. In their place, Soviet junk from the 1950s and the ever-present, solitary T-34.
Let’s try to imagine the Kremlin’s nightmare: a three-thousand-euro Ukrainian drone that, right during the parade, evades defenses and hits an armored vehicle before the eyes of the world. It would be a living demonstration that the “great power” is a giant with feet of clay, incapable of protecting even its most sacred stage. Is it because of this fear, or simply because they are in short supply, that the tanks are no longer present on Red Square? Or both?
Energy assistance: the delusion of a return to the past
Compounding this scenario is the shortsightedness of those proposing to return to buying gas and oil from Moscow. Using the tensions in the Strait of Hormuz as an excuse, they are trying to throw a financial lifeline to a country that, after burning through its strategic financial reserves to cover its deficit, is now burning through 40% of its budget on defense. Returning to subsidizing the Kremlin today means financing the missiles that the West is helping Ukraine intercept. It’s the perfect paradox: we arm Kiev’s defenses with one hand and fill the aggressor’s coffers with the other. Only a genius like Salvini could propose this.
Conclusion: A grip of senselessness
Italy finds itself caught between those who want Kiev’s surrender in the name of a fictitious peace that would reward unconquered territories to the perpetrator of this aggression, and those who desire dependence on Moscow for the sake of illusory savings (without wanting to give credence to other interests).
Both ignore that the Russia of 2026 is a country being sold off to China, with an economy fueled by war and weapons technology surpassed by Kiev’s laboratories (which has now become the main exporter of drone technology). Supporting Ukraine today is not only a moral duty, it is the only way to avoid falling into the trap of a regime that has already lost the challenge of the future, but still hopes that our strategic shortsightedness will give it the present.
All this without considering the growing internal dissent that is uniting those nostalgic for Soviet Russia and those who still refuse to accept the devaluation of the ruble, challenging the legitimacy of the state through the absurd dispute over banking codes 810 and 643.
A final paradox and a funny story to ironically close this article.
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