Despite overly optimistic assessments from the Russian leader of the true toll of the devastating war in Ukraine, Moscow has emerged with new sources of strength in recent days. 

President Vladimir Putin is publicly defending what has become for his country a quagmire in Ukraine, insisting Russia has lost nothing as a result of his devastating decision to invade six months ago.

Speaking Wednesday at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, where he also planned to observe ongoing military exercises with China, Putin in his prepared remarks offered a selective account of his country’s strength and blasted Western sanctions imposed due to his unprovoked invasion as a threat to the world. He omitted any explicit reference to Ukraine except to laud Russia’s work in helping to ensure grain exports “despite all the complicated developments taking place” there.

But in response to questions afterward, Putin offered a bold assessment of how Russia has endured the sanctions and other withering Western punishments for its invasion on Feb. 24, as well as the devastating effects of a war that has forced the Kremlin to deploy 85% of its existing combat forces to wage it. 

"We have not lost anything and will not lose anything,” Putin said. “In terms of what we have gained, I can say that the main gain has been the strengthening of our sovereignty.”

The realities on the ground portend a much more grievous situation for the Kremlin, even as it secured new – though subtle – pledges of support from its most consequential partner in the region, China, at the summit where Putin spoke.

New Western assessments estimate tens of thousands of Russian soldiers have died in the fighting – as high as 80,000, according to Ukraine’s accounting. The carnage has forced Moscow to find new recruits by broadening the acceptable ages of new enlistees and recruiting in prisons. Reports emerged this week suggesting that it has also turned to mental health facilities to find volunteers.