Putin’s Nukes Are Out the Window

He did all of this…. on his own

Sanctions are useless — no, senseless. That’s the term the Kremlin is pushing now. Wrapped in that same senseless propaganda is a new claim: Putin expects Ukraine’s defenses to collapse within two to three months.

I’m not sure how many newsrooms — The Times, The Post, or the rest — will bother dissecting this latest twin blast from the Kremlin. Hopefully, someone on the desk will spare five minutes for a basic Google search, because here’s the reality: July marked the third consecutive month of falling Russian oil revenues.

Russian economic planning for 2025 was so wildly overconfident that now the government is preparing to offload gold from the National Wealth Fund just to keep the lights on. Odds are, the selling has already started.

This mess is entirely self-inflicted — a Kremlin production starring Putin and his table full of yes-men. Even after the West shifted gears last October and tightened sanctions, the Russian Finance Ministry built its 2025 budget assuming oil would average $70 a barrel.

• Problem: Brent crude barely crossed $70 all year.