Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has been compared to the Winter War in 1939 when the Soviet Union invaded Finland. The two invasions share similarities in the invader's expectation of an easy victory and how the defenders of Ukraine and Finland emerged victorious in the initial assault. Specifically, the two cases of Russia's offensive against Kyiv and the Soviet Union's offensive against Oulu can be considered similar. Some have suggested that Russia's failure in the offensive against Kyiv can be attributed to Russia reaching the culmination point of the attack.
The study aims to contribute to a better understanding of the two cases by comparing them in their similarities and differences according to the attacker's culmination point. In specific, by comparing Russia's and the Soviet Union's offensives according to the attacker's methods for delaying the culmination point, and comparing Ukraine and Finland's defences by the defender's methods to hasten the attacker's culmination point. The result shows that there are more similarities between the attacking forces than the defending forces according to the attacker’s culmination point. In conclusion, Russia's and the Soviet Union's culmination point is seen to be affected more by their failures than by Ukraine and Finland being successful in their defences.