The hardliners and ultranationlists are showcasing the ineptitude and incompetence informing Russia's strategy for Putin's war in Ukraine. Missile attacks on civilian infrastructure are unlikely to break Ukrainian resolve any time soon, and do nothing to degrade Ukraine’s front line forces around Kherson and Kharkiv.
Russian nationalist commentators and state media’s war correspondents lauded Monday’s attack as an appropriate, and long-awaited, response to Ukraine’s successful counteroffensive in the northeast and the south and a weekend attack on a key bridge between Russia and Crimea, the prized Black Sea peninsula Russia annexed in 2014.
Many argued, however, that Moscow should keep up the intensity of Monday’s missile strikes in order to win the war now. Some analysts suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin is becoming a hostage of his own allies’ views on how the campaign in Ukraine should unfold.
If Russia is pushed out of Kherson Putin's “land bridge” to Crimea is in serious jeopardy. Yet Russia is more interested in tantruming over the damage done to Kerch Bridge than supporting its beleaguered forces around Kherson.
This war is still Putin's to lose, but with strategic guidance such as he's getting from the warhawks, he might just manage to orchestrate his own defeat.
Curious if you ever watch The Duran on YouTube or read anything on Unz.com. They basically say the opposite of you.
I appreciate your commentary as it balances those views. Hard to get a good read on this whole thing.