February 9, 2025: Russian leader Vladimir Putin insists that Russia will not lose in Ukraine and that Russia has rarely lost a war. The reality is that Russia has been defeated 38 times in the past 1,100 years since the Russian state was established in 862. The first defeat came in 941 when the Rus, as Russians were then known, were defeated by the Byzantine Empire.

The Rus were defeated again in a 967-71 war.

In 1022 Poland defeated the Rus

In 1024 there was another loss to the Byzantines.

In 1043 there was another loss to the Byzantines.

In 1061 Sosol Estonians defeated the Rus.

In 1203-34 Russians lost to Germans and Livonians.

In 1223-1240 the Mongols trashed Rus lands umpteen times.

Throughout the Rus period there were more victories than defeats and Rus controlled territory steadily expanded,

From 1263 to 1547 the Rus lands were known as the Muscovy or the Principality of Moscow. During 1281-1294 there were several losses to a Mongol coalition that included several Russian princes. The Mongols in the area worked with several different coalitions of Russian princes but increasingly lost to the Muscovy coalitions.

In 1377 the Mongols alone defeated Muscovy and repeated that in 1382. Over the next century the Mongol threat diminished to an occasional nuisance.

In 1547 modern Russia emerged under the rule of the first Tsar. The first major defeat was during 1558-83 when there was a war against a coalition including Denmark, Norway, Poland, Sweden and Lithuania.

In 1605-18 Poland and Lithuania inflicted another defeat.

In 1610-17 Russia lost to Sweden. In 1632-34 there was another loss to Poland and Lithuania.

In 1651-53 The Russian forces were defeated by the Persians (Iranians). In 1652-89 there was a defeat in the far east to China and Korea.

In 1710-11 there was a loss to the Ottoman Turks.

In 1717 a Russian attack on the Central Asian Khanate of Khiva was defeated.

During this period there were more victories than defeats and in 1721 the Russian Empire was established. In 1803-6 Russia was part of a coalition that was defeated by Napoleon ruled France. Russia was defeated again by the French in 1806-7.

In 1839-40 another Russian attack on the Central Asian Khanate of Khiva was defeated.

In 1853-56 defeat came in the Crimean War against a UK, France, Ottoman and Sardinian coalition.

In 1905-7 Russia was defeated by Imperial Japan in the Russo-Japanese War.

In 1914-17 Russia was defeated by a German led coalition during World War I.

In 1918 Russian and Russian Red Guard forces were defeated by Russian White Guard and German Army forces to establish the independence of Finland from the Russian Empire.

In 1918-1920 Russian Communist and Latvian forces were defeated by a coalition of Latvian, Estonian, the Principality of Lieven, Poland and Lithuania with the interventionist Western Allied Powers, including Reserve Corps consisting of men from Western Russia, the Baltic States and a unit of the Baltic Freikorps. The fighting led to the independence of Latvia.

In 1918-1920 Russian and Estonian communists were defeated by forces from the UK, Estonia, Finland, Denmark and the Baltische Landeswehr to win independence for Estonia.

In 1918-1919 forces from Lithuania and Germans from Saxony defeated Russian, Lithuanian and Belorussian communists to establish Lithuanian independence.

In 1918-1920 a coalition of troops from the Caucasus and the Republic of Georgia defeated Russian communists to maintain the independence of Georgia and the brief existence of the Transcaucasian Federation.

In 1919-21 Polish troops and Ukrainian Nationalists defeated a coalition of Russian, Ukrainian, Belorussian, and Polish communists to establish the freedom of Poland.

In 1925-26 the new, since 1922 Soviet Union and the Emirate of Afghanistan fought each other over control of an island in the Amu Darya river.

In 1929 Red Army of the Soviet Union and Royalist Kingdom of Afghanistan forces defeated Emirate of Afghanistan and Islamic Basmachi rebels from Central Asia to preserve the rule of the Kingdom of Afghanistan. This conflict was much ado about nothing.

In 1936-39 the Soviet Union, Mexican support and several communist international brigades were defeated by Spanish Nationalist Forces supported by Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany and Nationalist Portugal to establish the Franco ruled Spanish Republic.

In 1961 Albania defeated an effort by the Soviet Union and allies from Bulgaria, East Germany, Hungary and Poland to maintain pro-Russian communist rule in Albania

In 1979-89 The Soviet Union forces were sort of defeated by the Afghan Mujahideen coalition. This was not a defeat; the Russians simply grew tired of the war and withdrew their forces. After the Russians left the Afghan Civil War began and did not end until 1992.

1994-1996 Russian forces were driven from the Caucasus nation of Chechnya by a coalition of foreign Islamic militants from various countries.

2015-2024 Russian, Baathist Syrian, Iranian and Hezbollah forces were forced out of Syria by Islamic terrorists and Syrians opposed to the decades long rule of the Assad clan. The Assads fled to exile in Russia. As of 2025, the Russian air and naval bases in Syria are still under Russian control.

2014 t0 the present Russian forces are trying to defeat Ukrainian forces in Ukraine and crush the Ukrainian independence movement. The Ukrainians are supported by a NATO coalition that includes the United States. So far, the Russians are unable to subdue the Ukrainians and may never be able to do so.

2018 to the present Russian, Central African and Rwandan forces are fighting a coalition of rebel groups in Central Africa for control of valuable mining territory in eastern Congo.

2021 to the present. Russian and Malian forces fight Islamic terrorist groups for control of Mali.

2024 to the present. Russian and Burkina Faso forces fight Islamic terrorists for control of Burkina Faso.