Would Putin go nuclear after Ukraine's daring attacks? Ukraine war Q&A with Michael Clarke
Never the question:
What psychological effect do the attacks have on Putin?
Ukraine has pulled off three different attacks in the past few days that will have annoyed the Russian president, Michael Clarke says
Those attacks were on two different bridges at the weekend, which collapsed, the drone strikes on Russia's bombers and the explosion on the Kerch Bridge linking Crimea to Russia yesterday.
Watch: Ukraine strikes Moscow's bombers
"They do affect him," Clarke says.
"I was talking to somebody who keeps track on these things, and he said that Putin has disappeared in the last 48 hours.
"He's just not made any appearances, which is unlike him."
Clarke says the "more audacious" the attacks are, the more humiliating it is for Russian defence forces.
"One of the reasons he [Putin] doesn't come on to TV immediately is because it would look as if the blame was his," he says.
"And so he always makes sure that the blame is laid on the regional governor or somebody lower down in the air defence control."
Clarke says Putin was shaken by Yevgeny Prigozhin's attempted coup in 2023, when Wagner's former chief staged an apparent insurrection and sent an armoured convoy towards Moscow.
The Kremlin use words like "terrorist act" when attacks like these occur, Clarke says.
Putin "makes sure to defect attention from these things", Clarke adds.
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