The "Big Lie" worked for Trump and it seems to be working for Putin, also.
Trump told his supporters, and the American people, that the 2020 election was stolen and that he actually won in a landslide, despite all evidence to the contrary.
Now, Putin is telling the Russian people that there is a military exercise going on in Ukraine and has forbidden everyone, especially reporters, from using the word "war". But there seems to be a lot of Russian soldiers dying in this "exercise". Any information to the contrary is "fake news", Putin says.
However, reality has a way of intruding on these "alternate realities" created by these modern-day tyrants. It's probably just a matter of time until Putin tells his people how he "won" the war in Ukraine?
Unfortunately for Putin, the country of Ukraine is about the same size as Texas, without the "panhandle". That is a large land area to try and control by force with only 200,000 troops. If the Ukrainian people continue to resist, Mr Putin may find an Alamo of his own?