The Kremlin’s response to the bomb attack on the Crimean bridge. Moscow fired at least 84 rockets at Ukrainian targets, including civilian targets. According to an expert, Putin wants to terrorize the Ukrainian population. The “tsar” panics: he makes contradictory and unpredictable decisions.
Moscow () – Putin described yesterday’s bombings in different parts of Ukraine as “a massive attack, with high-precision long-range weapons”, carried out “from air, sea and land bases against energy targets, military detachments and networks of communication”. The bombings are intended to be a response to the tremendous outrage caused by the explosive attack on the Crimean bridge, a symbol of Russian “victory” in these years of war since the annexation of the peninsula in 2014.
At least 84 Russian missiles hit kyiv, Zaporizhia, Dnipro, Lviv, Zhytomyr, Kharkiv, Nikolaev, Odessa, Poltava and other cities. Ukrainian missile defenses intercepted and destroyed about half of them; Moscow also used “suicide” drones, some of which had recently been purchased from Iran.
Political scientist Ivan Preobražensky commented in Currentime.tv the destructive turn of events and what this means for the internal balances of the Kremlin: “Revenge for the Crimean bridge was considered mandatory in this situation”, but it is not clear why so many civilian targets, such as shopping malls or playgrounds, instead of power plants or military bases. According to the academic, “in this way it is intended to attack and terrorize the Ukrainian population; it is a terrorist logic.”
The unprecedented violence of these attacks is also linked to the appointment of yet another “butcher” as head of Russian military operations in Ukraine. This is General Sergei Surovikin, 56, known for Russian bombing in Syria. His appointment is part of the logic of instilling fear in opponents. At the same time, it is a sign of how deep the internal conflict between Putin and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu runs.
Apparently, the new commander is one of the ideologues of the use of tactical nuclear weapons in ordinary military actions. Preobražensky points out that the massive use of long-range missiles since the beginning of the war, and on a scale not seen since World War II, has markedly reduced Russia’s “ordinary” arsenal. Actions like yesterday’s require quick decisions, bypassing the entire chain of command, with a phone call from Putin in five minutes.
Putin’s reaction to the bombing of the Crimean bridge on October 8 was delayed until the night of the 9th. This reveals a psychopathic condition that was also typical of Stalin, especially after the start of the Nazi invasion in 1941. There are no shortage of versions that They attribute the organization of the bridge explosion to the FSB hawks, precisely to provoke the czar’s uncontrolled anger: now, seized by panic and blind fury, Putin intends to punish everyone, and looks for culprits inside and outside.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has repeatedly spoken of the “nuclear doctrine” but is now refusing to comment on the matter, evidently awaiting the leader’s final decisions. The problem is that anger often alternates with panic, and Putin’s decisions these days seem quite contradictory and unpredictable. The closer one gets to the possibility of moving to tactical nuclear weapons, the less is known in high political and military circles.
However, nukes cannot be dropped with the push of a button. They need to be moved to point in the right direction, and Russia is not yet in a position to move to this “final” phase of the conflict. The ongoing meeting of the Kremlin Security Council could be one more trigger for the escalation of the war. But it is difficult to decipher his plays soon
