The story of the Ukrainians fighting for their sovereignty has been that of an underdog, the valiant defender of the homeland. Ukraine, fighting with everything they have against the military mammoth of Russia, always on the back foot. But recently Ukraine has flipped the entire war on its head.

The recent Ukrainian counter offensives in the north and south have completely reversed the entire conflict. In early September, Ukrainian forces launched a massive counter operation against occupying Russian forces. After they carefully laid the trap for Russia by publicly announcing a counter offensive in the south, Putin moved troops to reinforce the region. That’s when Ukraine launched a lightning fast attack in the north.

In all the confusion, they continued their assault in the south as well. With Russian forces scrambling to understand what was happening around them, many dropped their weapons and abandoned military vehicles and equipment in a hasty retreat.

In the course of eight days, the Ukrainian counter offensive has retaken six months of Russian territorial gains and liberated dozens of towns. The Kremlin is now reaching out to Ukraine to end the conflict as Ukrainian troops reach the Russian border and could potentially invade Russia with little to no immediate resistance.

The speed and efficacy of this counter offensive has shocked the world and many NATO aligned countries are pouring even more money into Ukraine with the U.S. recently approving more aid, even considering loaning F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, and Poland sending tanks into the country. With aid from many major countries, support around the world, and the Russian army collapsing after the loss of many major officers. Russian top of the line equipment being destroyed and captured by Ukraine, rampant corruption along with the complete lack of routine maintenance and upkeep of their equipment. All this has lead to catastrophic failures of many major elements of the Russian military. We could even possibly see Crimea returned to Ukraine and even an invasion of Russia.

With Russia being so publicly humiliated, the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization), essentially Russia’s store brand NATO, has started to collapse with Russia refusing to aid Armenia after the recent Azerbaijani invasion. Many countries announced that they are leaving the coalition, and recently Russia even announced “limited mobilization,” meaning the recall of reservist forces and possibly even conscription to continue the failing war effort. The world stage is shifting into a position where Russia is no longer a major military power and countries like China could potentially rise to fill its place as the eastern superpower.