Russia planned to invade Ukraine and take over its government within seven to ten days, a mission that has "completely unraveled," international affairs specialist Tom Nichols said. While the worst is yet to come for Ukraine, the country is likely to win the war, Nichols told Jim Braude on Greater Boston.
"The initial Russian war plan has gone completely to hell," said Nichols, adding that now, Russia will "flatten everything in sight" and continue to kill civilians.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will ultimately have to withdraw without full control of Ukraine, predicted Nichols, who writes for The Atlantic.
"Even if he wins in the short term, he loses. And I think that this has really been a disastrous miscalculation for Russia that's going to cost Russia years of development economically as well as militarily," Nichols said.
Getting the United States or NATO involved is a poor solution, said Nichols, considering it is the only thing that can strengthen Putin. "Then he'd be able to rally his country, rally his military, fight the war that his military has been preparing to fight for decades and be able to turn to the world and say, 'see this really is about NATO.'"
Watch: The toll of the war in Ukraine
