Moscow’s barrage of missile strikes on cities all across Ukraine has elicited celebratory
comments from Russian officials and pro-Kremlin pundits, who in recent weeks have
actively criticized the Russian military for a series of embarrassing setbacks on the
Russian nationalist commentators and state media war correspondents lauded
Monday’s attack as an appropriate, and long-awaited, response to a successful
Ukrainian counteroffensive and a weekend attack on the bridge between Russia and
Crimea, the prized Black Sea peninsula Russia annexed in 2014.
Many of them argued that Moscow should keep up the intensity of Monday’s
strikes to win the war now. Some analysts suggested that Russian President
Vladimir Putin was becoming a hostage of his allies’ views on how the campaign in
Ukraine should unfold.
“Putin’s initiative is weakening, and he is becoming more dependent on
circumstances and those who are forging the ‘victory’ (in Ukraine) for him,
” Tatyana Stanovaya, founder of the independent R.Politik think tank, wrote in an
online commentary Monday.
“The fear of defeat is so strong, especially for those who are now fully immersed in
this military venture, that Putin’s indecisiveness, with his logic of ‘We have not
started anything yet’ and ‘Restrained tactics have paid off’ has become a problem,”
the analyst said.
For weeks, Putin’s supporters have called for drastic battlefield steps in Ukraine. The
exhortations intensified over the weekend after an explosion on the Kerch Bridge linking
Crimea to Russia; the bridge, Europe’s longest, is a prominent symbol of Russian military
might. Putin himself opened the span in 2018.
Putin said Monday the strikes were in retaliation for what he called Kyiv’s “terrorist”
actions targeting the Kerch Bridge, and vowed a “tough” and “proportionate”
response should Ukraine carry out further attacks that threaten Russia’s security.
“No one should have any doubts about it,” he said.
“Here comes the response,” RT’s Simonyan tweeted on Monday after the attacks.
“The Crimean bridge was that very red line from the very beginning.”
Russian Armed Forces Continue Massive Strikes on Ukraine Energy System & Military
Russia’s Infrastructure Strikes Show Crimean Bridge Was ‘Red Line’ and Kiev Crossed It:
Ukraine gets highly anticipated arms from Germany – Spiegel
Moscow reveals results of new strikes on Ukraine
Russia’s victory will be NATO’s defeat – Stoltenberg
Ukraine seeks more Western air defence help, NATO tightens security
1 comment:
Other than infrastructure Russia has been targeting the phones of NATO military. It would be interesting to see how many foreign fighters were killed in the latest strikes. But that would be telling the truth and that will never happen.
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