Comment: New setbacks for Putin

Three attacks in two days against targets deep in Russia indicate a significant escalation of the war. Vladimir Putin’s attempt to destroy Ukraine backfired.

That’s a comment. The comment expresses the writer’s position

Russia’s massive attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine cannot be compared to the bombings of three air bases in Russia.

Russia’s attempt to freeze Ukrainians into obedience by bombing electricity and water supplies is very different from what has happened on Russian soil in recent days.

Symbolically, the events at the bases in Kursk, Ryazan and Saratov, Russia, are very significant. This is a Russian reaction. It shows the weakness of Russia.

War doesn’t just happen elsewhere. The business of war has come close to ordinary Russians. One reason is the intense mobilization earlier in the fall and the large number of casualties.

Another is that Russian military bases close to 500 kilometers from the border with Ukraine can be attacked. Never before in the war have targets far from the Russian-Ukrainian border been targeted.

Officially, Ukraine will neither confirm nor deny responsibility for the drone attacks against military targets in Russia.

Russian authorities accuse Ukraine of using Soviet-era drones from its territory in attacks on air bases in Ryazan and Saratov.

In this case, it is a counterattack against bases using grenade launchers used in the war against Ukraine. On Wednesday morning, Kursk Airport was also attacked by a drone.

Putin did not declare war in February. He described the massive Russian invasion as a private military operation.

Until it became absolutely necessary, he avoided military mobilization. The war was to take place elsewhere. To a minimum, the war should occupy most of the Russians.

But nothing went according to plan.

There was no quick regime change in Kyiv.

The Russians were to instead make a humiliating retreat from the capital area. This fall, Ukrainian forces liberated large areas in the south and east that had been occupied by the Russians.

Putin has changed his strategy in recent weeks. Through continuous and large-scale missile and drone attacks, the civilian infrastructure of Ukraine will be destroyed.

When Russia loses on the battlefield, they target civilian targets instead, with the intention of demoralizing Ukrainians and turning them against their leaders.

By making it unlivable in Ukraine, more civilians will flee, which could lead to chaos in Western countries. This is how the Kremlin hopes the West will have enough of its own challenges and cut off support for Kyiv.

There is no indication that Russia’s new strategy is working any better than its predecessors. Western solidarity with Ukraine is well established.

Ukrainians are working hard to repair damaged infrastructure. If anything, their resilience has been enhanced. It appears that old Soviet-era drones can strike military targets deep inside Russia.

At the beginning of the war, Putin spoke of his desire to discredit Ukraine. Instead, the brutal Russian war brought together a Ukrainian people fighting against the occupiers for freedom and independence.

Putin is no longer able to convince a significant part of his people of the need to continue the war, as many opinion polls show.

In Russian propaganda, it is portrayed as if Russia is threatened. Western countries bear responsibility for the ongoing war because they help Ukraine defend their country.

The fact is that Putin started this senseless war against a neighboring country. It was also an attack on security arrangements and cooperation in Europe.

When Russia intensifies its attacks on civilian targets, they themselves are subjected to drone attacks against military bases. In the winter cold, the front in Donbass is frozen. But at the same time, the war is expanding in the atmosphere, in scope and scope.

The danger of this war continues to spread. Nobody knows what Putin will do under pressure.

Putin threatened to use all of Russia’s arsenal if necessary. He mentioned more than once the country’s nuclear weapons. This is a system that threatens and intimidates in order to achieve its goals.