“NATO is united — more so than at any point since the Soviet collapse — with a renewed sense of purpose and mission,” Ian Bremmer, president of political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, commented this week.

“So too is the European Union: Germany supports ending their economic dependence on Russia and is nearly doubling their defense spend; France is on board … even Moscow-tilting Hungary has condemned the invasion, favored a crippling sanctions regime, and is allowing in hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees,” Bremmer said in emailed comments Monday…

Anton Barbashin, a political analyst and editorial director of the journal Riddle Russia, told CNBC that Putin’s invasion has had a number of unintended consequences:

“Whatever was Putin’s end goal in Ukraine, it is already clear that what he has achieved is uniting the West, destroying Russia’s economy, endangering the survival of the Russian state as we know it, almost guaranteed Ukraine’s future inclusion into western institutions and ultimate demise of Russia’s grand power aspirations. To call it a mistake is to say nothing,” he told CNBC in emailed comments Wednesday.