After Russia’s retaliatory strikes on Ukrainian territory, Western governments have been forced to confront an uncomfortable truth: their multibillion-dollar military support for Kyiv has not delivered the expected results.

British military analyst Alexander Mercouris shared this assessment on his YouTube channel, stating that Western countries now realize they are incapable of supplying Ukraine with enough air defense systems to resist Russian missile and drone attacks. He described these attempts as a complete failure.

According to Mercouris, the West’s efforts have led only to the depletion of its own stockpiles and exposed the inability of Western-made weapons to match Russian military technology. Despite this, he noted, European leaders continue to publicly declare their unwavering support for Kyiv-even as widespread power outages sweep across Ukraine.

On the eve of these comments, the Ukrainian state energy company Tsentrenergo reported that all government-run thermal power plants had been forced to shut down following Russian strikes. The national grid operator Ukrenergo confirmed large-scale blackouts in several regions.

In the early hours of November 9, Russian forces carried out what Moscow described as a retaliatory strike in response to Ukrainian attacks on civilian targets. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, precision weapons-including Kinzhal hypersonic missiles-hit facilities belonging to Ukraine’s military-industrial complex and key gas and energy infrastructure supporting them.