It's been four-and-a-half years since Russia invaded Ukraine.
Many of us thought this war would be ended a long time ago. But instead of it wrapping up under the second term of President Donald Trump, it continues to rage with no clear end in sight.
That is partly because Putin is extremely stubborn and is clinging to power. As RedState colleague Ward Clark explained today, there is plenty of reason to doubt that the upcoming Russian elections will be free and fair.
History doesn't always repeat, as the saying goes, but it frequently rhymes. In this case, we can look to Russia, where Vladimir Putin has effectively set himself up as Tsar Vladimir I, and this year's farcical Russian elections will just reaffirm him and his sycophants in their current ownership of Russia, as the 2026 Russian elections have likely already been rigged.
That being said, Russia would likely have an easier time transitioning to a normal member of the international community (whatever that is) if NATO and Russia would just get along.
After all, the Cold War is over, right? Right?
Well, neither side seems to have gotten the memo. And now, Putin is making some very serious threats against European countries.
The Russians claim that European leaders are now countenancing the unthinkable: Putting boots on the ground in Ukraine.
If true, that would effectively be a declaration of war, no matter how you slice it. And the Russians aren't mincing words about it.
President Vladimir Putin on Friday warned European countries that sending troops into Ukraine would mean "war with Russia."
Putin was speaking to reporters at the BRICS summit in New Delhi when he issued his stark warning.
"Now, they say they are thinking of how to deploy troops to Ukraine," he told reporters, as quoted by state-run news agency TASS. "This would mean a war with Russia."
UPI gave some helpful background to understanding the situation: European leaders continue to back Ukraine as an ally, or even as if it were a member of NATO — even though it's not.
"Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron said 26 countries had pledged to support sending troops to Ukraine in a peacekeeping mission to provide postwar guarantees," UPI reported.
"The day the conflict stops, the security guarantees will be deployed," Macron told reporters.
This is all taking place among an ongoing tit-for-tat between Putin and Zelensky. The Ukrainian president said that the country had been hit with nearly 500 drone strikes this weekend.
Russian drone attacks continue throughout the day today, and “shaheds” are still in the sky right now. Nearly 500 attack drones have already been launched since morning. Essentially, the Russians have expanded this war from the front lines, where they cannot achieve success, into… pic.twitter.com/Gi8kCBHMKt
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 12, 2026
"The Russians are burning warehouses with food and gas stations, pharmaceutical facilities and ordinary passenger trains, residential buildings and civilian businesses," Zelensky said on X. "Just in the past few days, they have struck a steel plant owned by an Indian business, an American company that produced sunflower oil, and a Polish company that manufactured plumbing fixtures.
"Russian attacks have targeted truck parking lots, ports, shopping malls, and energy infrastructure."
The Russians are making it clear that they would not tolerate NATO countries' boots on the ground without a peace agreement.
"It's not a red line, but Russia's position that has been conveyed to the whole world, primarily to Europeans, in an extremely specific and clear manner," Peskov told reporters.
Whether or not it's a "red line," the world cannot afford to see a European war escalate. There has already been too much bloodshed and too much ruin over a regional territorial dispute.
This militarized dispute never needed to become a continental war between nuclear powers — but it seems like the leaders on both sides are unwilling to let their agendas go.
Let's hope for the world's sake that both the Russia-Ukraine War and the Iran War can be ended in the near future.
Wars are definitely something that many Americans did not foresee continuing to be a problem under the second Trump administration.