They cannot comprehend the idea of losing. It just doesn’t compute in their minds. They cannot imagine a reality in which backwards, barbaric Russia dictates terms to the civilized, all-powerful collective West.

They live in a world where the only thing that really matters is the narrative, so when reality is at odds with the constructed narrative they choose to ignore reality. Because the narrative is more real than reality.

It is solipsism on a civilizational level.