Putin's summer of savage brutality has just begun
In the aftermath of Ukraine's audacious 'Operation Spider's Web', which claimed as many as 41 of Russia's military jets in drone attacks on four airbases across the country last Sunday, Vladimir Putin vowed revenge.
Relaying his conversation with the Russian president in the attack's aftermath, Donald Trump said – without the slightest hint of alarm or condemnation – 'president Putin did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields'.
Now, it appears that response has arrived. Overnight, Moscow launched its 'biggest overnight bombardment' of the war so far, according to Ukraine's air force, directing 479 drones and 20 missiles predominantly at the western and central parts of the country.
The attack reached as far west as Rivne, unnerving Poland – Ukraine's neighbour – to such a degree that it felt compelled to scramble its airforce to patrol for stray missiles.
Moscow has been ramping up the intensity of its attacks on Ukraine for several weeks now, setting new records for the number of drones launched on consecutive weekends in a row. But Operation Spider's Web appears to have triggered an escalation in Russia's bombardment.
Just on Thursday, Ukrainian officials reported that over 400 had once again been launched at the country, with the capital city Kyiv heavily bombarded and over 50 people injured nationwide.
While Ukraine's air defences are able to shoot down most of the drones sent their way, even the fraction that get through manage to do a great deal of damage and impact civilian morale, as Ukrainians across the country are forced into bomb shelters day after day.
The escalation in Moscow's aerial attacks on Ukraine comes as the signs increasingly point to yet another new Russian offensive getting underway this summer. Some analysts argue that it has already started.
Putin's forces are advancing through Donetsk and Luhansk and appear to have their sights set on the region of Dnipropetrovsk. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed this morning that the aim of the advance was, in part, to create a 'buffer zone' along the front line.
According to Ukrainian military intelligence, some 125,000 Russian troops are also being amassed in the Sumy and Kharkiv regions. Some analysts suggest their aim could be to try and push forward as close to the Dnipro river, which runs north to south through the country, by the end of the year as possible.
For all of Putin's insistence to Trump that he is ready to discuss an end to his war in Ukraine, the actions of his army suggest quite the opposite. Last month, while Russian and Ukrainian delegations met in Istanbul to notionally discuss terms for the end to the war, Putin's troops gained territory twice as quickly as in April.
Bluntly put, despite Operation Spider's Web, Putin remains on the front foot in the war and as long as he's willing to sacrifice ever more Russians to the meat grinder of the front line, he will probably remain so. At the moment, he simply has no incentive to sit down and seriously negotiate an end to this conflict – with Trump, Zelensky or anyone else. To think otherwise is simply delusional.
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