Four Years for What?

Dominic Thomas
Feb 2026 • 2 min read

Four Years for What?

It has been four years since Putin sent the Russian army to invade Ukraine. The world paused and implemented sanctions, forcing up the price of gas, fertilizer and oil. Supply chains have struggled and added to inflationary pressures, the West has funded the Ukrainian resistance in the belief that this is a line which we cannot allow a despot to cross for fear of escalation, which threatens NATO nations and ultimately our own freedom.

Thousands have lost their lives, the Russian population which is typically around 146m has seen many of its younger population reluctantly conscripted into the fight. Ukraine with a population of something like 37m is far smaller but evidently very determined under the leadership of Volodymyr Zelensky since 2019. Most would be quick to point to his good leadership, Trump was quick to be Trump (see the video for yourself – linked at the bottom).

The war is dominated by the use of drones, which seems straight out of a sci-fi film. Money normally generated by Russia for energy has fallen by around 27% since the invasion, this revenue props up the Russian armed forces. Russian crude oil finds its way to Turkey, China and India often via tankers that aren’t insured (according to Reuters).

As of now, Russia occupies about 20% of Ukraine and continues to bombard her cities. There are approaching 3.7million internally displaced Ukrainians with nearly 7million having left the country, and over 53,000 casualties. It is estimated that 12.7million need humanitarian help.

Sadly there does not seem to be any obvious end to the war, despite over 1.3m Russian casualties and perhaps as many as 325,000 killed. The largest number of deaths in European war since WW2. The Russian economy is barely moving with GDP of 0.6%, despite statements to the contrary, the Russian invasion isn’t going well, and certainly wasn’t the quick military exercise that Putin expected. Ukraine has lost around 140,000.

We cannot control despots but we can support a nation’s independence and stand against a despot. Indeed this has been in part reflected in our own energy prices. However, the price of freedom is invariably expensive and to date, none of us have paid with anything more than a higher utility bill, not our lives. What is disturbing is the sycophantic praise heaped on Putin by a particular politician in turquoise. A man who doesn’t seem to value or appreciate freedom, but admires a bully.

One of my favourite bands (U2) recently launched a new short album, “Days of Ash” as ever poignant and political (in the sense of standing up against injustice). Here is the track “Yours Eternally” from the EP with Ed Sheeran and Taras Topolia. Yes we all use the platforms we have.

References

Global Conflict Tracker: https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/conflict-ukraine

Drones dominate the war: https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/drones-dominate-ukraine-battlefield-four-years-into-fighting-2026-02-24/

Centre for Strategic and International Studies – data: https://www.csis.org/analysis/russias-grinding-war-ukraine

U2: Days of Ash: https://www.u2.com/news/title/u2–days-of-ash-new-ep-out-now

The suits in the White House “press conference” where you can witness the ineptitude of the current US administration https://youtu.be/z2s2pogllis?si=WRRzwAuo0GMt5M1W

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INVESTORS NEED A POSITIVE OUTLOOK

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INVESTORS NEED A POSITIVE OUTLOOK

It may sound rather churlish, but it is true that investors need a positive outlook. There is little or no point at all investing if you believe that everything is getting worse. This is a feeling that becomes familiar with age, everything often seems to be getting worse, primarily because we are fed a diet of fairly dreary news stories and have a growing awareness of our inability to simply change the world or certain people.

Whilst I would not want you to think that everything is good or “fine” life is certainly much better for the most people on earth than it was say 100 years ago. The planet has a population north of 7 billion people and roughly 6 billion of them are, on global terms “doing ok” or better than “ok”. There are extremes of poverty and wealth of course, but there are a lot of people between those extremities. May I encourage you to have a look at gapminder.com for more detail about this

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Investors need a positive outlook, precisely because you are investing in the future, in that future, improvements will be made to the standard of living and innovations to improve our lives. Yes there are obvious problems that need addressing – fosil fuels, climate change, plastic in the oceans, but these and many other problems are solved by innovation. Innovation leads to patenting good ideas. Patent applications are in one sense evidence of good ideas that then require finance – capital…your investment.

Fiddler on the Roof

The musical “Fiddler on the Roof” has returned to the West End of London. Most of us know it from the 1971 film starring Topol and perhaps the most familiar song “If I were a rich man”. It is set in 1905, a touch over 110 years ago. Tevye the milkman with his wife Golde and their five daughters live in Anatevka, Russia. The Jewish community coexist with the locals, but it is evident that this is a fragile relationship. They have the richness of a community and its rich traditions, yet life is evidently a struggle for them all.

It is interesting to compare what in 2019 someone in poverty might consider to be the trappings of wealth and what money could afford them to do, be and have. As for Tevye, his dream is of a house with 3 staircases (one going nowhere just for show), a wooden floor, to have some servants and not need to work. He would be respected and afforded time for spiritual reflection. By our standards today, Tevye has very little, in just over 100 years the standard of living for the typical milkman has risen considerably. We forget how much improvement has been made simply because we caught up by the present and trying to keep up with the future. We forget all the time. Investors capitalise on the momentum of human endeavour and a continual improvement in all things, many of which we do not yet even know we want.

Fiddler on the Roof is showing at The Playhouse, right next to embankment tube. Here is information – book an aisle seat if you are taller than 5’8” the legroom is poor, but the show is magnificent. See The Playhouse for tickets.

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

You can read more articles about Pensions, Wealth Management, Retirement, Investments, Financial Planning and Estate Planning on my blog which gets updated every week. If you would like to talk to me about your personal wealth planning and how we can make you stay wealthier for longer then please get in touch by calling 08000 736 273 or email [email protected]

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