Ukraine's surprise strike deep in Russia — an excellent way to push Putin to talk peace
Hand it to the Ukrainians: They're not only fighting heroically on, more than three years after Moscow launched its savage and utterly unprovoked war to destroy their nation, they're fighting with cheek and style.
The latest, of course, is Sunday's surprise drone strikes on airbases deep inside Russia, targeting strategic warplanes that have been pummeling mostly-civilian targets in Ukraine.
It counts as an intelligence coup, too: The drones were infiltrated to near their final targets over months, with Vladimir Putin's massive internal-surveillance agencies left utterly in the dark.
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Then again, Vlad's secret police were caught clueless back when the Wagner Group launched its aborted coup two years back: Putin should be losing sleep over what else his minions might be missing.
And any Russian patriots looking to save their country from his disastrous misrule can only be emboldened.
Nor can Moscow complain that Kyiv launched these strikes on the eve of a fresh set of peace talks: Putin is the one who's refusing any kind of ceasefire, and he's had his forces in overdrive ever since President Donald Trump launched his diplomatic drive to stop the slaughter.
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Kyiv was entirely right not to let Washington know these strikes were coming, by the way: As the Israelis will tell you, the DC defense establishment has a recently-proven track record of broadcasting our friends' war plans against even mutual enemies like Iran.
A single American loose lip could've alerted Moscow to the operation — turning it into from a Russian humiliation into a bitter loss for Ukraine.
Adding to Kyiv's panache points here, the damaged planes — $7 billion worth, the Ukrainians estimate even as the Russians of course claim the whole thing failed — included many of the strategic bombers central to Moscow's ultimate 'doomsday' deterrent.
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That is: Putin and his spokes-toads have spent the last three years pointedly hinting they'd go nuclear if the West helps Ukraine 'too much'; it's pure poetic justice if his refusal to make peace has now left Russia vulnerable to a nuclear first strike.
It's more clear than ever that Putin won't make peace unless and until continued his warmaking threatens him.
Ukraine's audacious attack had done just that; the Senate should double down on the message by passing the bipartisan secondary-sanctions bill ASAP.
Make Putin fear for his own survival; it's all he truly cares about.
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