Russia is led by Vladimir Putin, Sergei Lavrov, and Valery Gerasimov, who are 74, 76, and 71 years old. When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, heralding the end of the Soviet empire, they were already adults of 37, 39, and 34.
Their worldviews were formed in the USSR, and they still long for the days when their country oppressed Central and Eastern Europe, had influence across the globe, and was one of the world’s two superpowers.
Ukraine, in contrast, is led by much younger leaders. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is 48; Gen. Mykhailo Drapatyi, 43; and Olha Stefanishyna, the former ambassador to the US, 41. Presidential aide Kyrylo Budanov is 40, while former defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov is only 35.
When the Wall came, Zelenskyy was 11, Drapatyi six, Stefanishyna four, and Budanov three. Fedorov had not yet been born. Their worldviews were developed in a free and independent Ukraine. They do not long for a return to the Soviet Union.
This age difference also explains why both sides are so adamant about winning.
The American experience in Vietnam is a good example of the way leaders’ ages can matter. After the US lost the war in Vietnam, the defeated young captains, majors, and lieutenant colonels came home in the 1970s to a challenging post-Vietnam America.
Leaders such as Colin Powell, Norman Schwarzkopf, Fred Franks, and Barry McCaffrey — all majors or captains — had experienced defeat in Vietnam.
They rebuilt the US Army in the 1980s, and in 1991 won a decisive victory in Operation Desert Storm. By then, Powell was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Gen. Schwarzkopf commanded US Central Command and the coalition forces; Lt. Gen. Fred Franks commanded VII Corps in the “left hook,” and Maj. Gen. Barry McCaffrey commanded the 24th Infantry Division.
These American leaders had overcome the US loss in Vietnam. Their legacy was cemented at the end of their careers with a major, decisive victory.
Putin, Lavrov, and Gerasimov are a different story. They failed to learn the right lessons from the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan and have failed to restore the greatness of Russia with their “Special Military Operation” in Ukraine, and they know that, when they lose this war, they will be pariahs to the world for the rest of their lives.
Their dream of re-establishing the Russian empire they were born into, by occupying and controlling Central and Eastern Europe as the Soviets did, is lost forever.
In his April 2005 address to the Federal Assembly, Putin called the collapse of the Soviet Union “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.” Not World War I, with 20 million casualties, not World War II, with 50 million casualties, but the bloodless end to a brutal, authoritarian empire.
In August 2025, Lavrov even arrived in Alaska wearing a “CCCP” sweatshirt.
Putin, Lavrov, and Gerasimov have failed miserably. Their “Special Military Operation” has failed to achieve any of its objectives. It has cost Russia 1.5 million casualties, 55,000 artillery pieces, 24,000 armored personnel carriers, 12,000 tanks, one-third of the Black Sea Fleet, and half its irreplaceable strategic bomber fleet.
Ukraine’s attacks inside Russia have destroyed more than half of Russia’s refinery capacity, causing fuel shortages across the country. These, in turn, have ushered in an agricultural crisis, an airline crisis, an internet crisis, a warehouse and delivery crisis, and a banking crisis.
Ukrainians, the targets of Russian aggression for centuries, will never surrender. The Russians have proved again how brutal they are by raping, murdering, looting, and torturing. They have been even worse than anyone could have imagined before the war.
Ukraine is now winning on the front lines, destroying Russia’s logistics for resupplying the occupied territories, and systematically destroying the Russian economy.
The ages of the leaders matter, and tell a story that needs to be told.
Dan Rice is the President of the American University Kyiv, powered by ASU, and also the Co-President of Thayer Leadership at West Point. He is a West Point graduate, a decorated US combat veteran, and served as the Special Advisor to the Ukraine Armed Forces Commander for the first year of the war.
Europe’s Edge is CEPA’s online journal covering critical topics on the foreign policy docket across Europe and North America. All opinions expressed on Europe’s Edge are those of the author alone and may not represent those of the institutions they represent or the Center for European Policy Analysis. CEPA maintains a strict intellectual independence policy across all its projects and publications.
