Hawks urge Putin to escalate as Ukraine expands deep strikes
Vladimir Putin (Photo: Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Kremlin via REUTERS)
Hard-liners in the Russian commentariat are furious over
Ukraine’s persistent air
strike campaign targeting Russia’s rear and are urging dictator Vladimir
Putin to “abandon diplomacy and escalate,” Reuters reported
on June 26.
The report noted that calls for escalation are not new. Russian hawks have pushed for full mobilization, the assassination of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, strikes on European defense industry and, in some cases, even using tactical nuclear weapons.
“But Ukraine's deep strikes this month — targeting Moscow, St Petersburg and Crimea, as well as what Russia said were two deadly attacks on passenger buses — have sharpened and intensified those demands,” Reuters wrote.
“Analysts say the increasingly strident rhetoric reflects growing unease over the reach and impact of Ukrainian drone attacks, and a broader debate about how Russia — with its vast territory — can defend itself while still pursuing its war aims in a conflict it launched in 2022.”
The article quoted oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev, a key ideologue of contemporary Russian imperialism, as saying, “war means victory at any cost.” There have also been calls to abandon the U.S.-mediated peace negotiations and pursue the destruction of Ukrainian statehood, rendering Ukrainian cities uninhabitable through bombardment.
Reuters added that Putin so far appears confident in his current strategy. Speaking recently to graduates of a military academy, he said Russia was close to capturing Kostiantynivka (67,000 prewar population, currently estimated at below 2,800) in Donetsk Oblast.
The report noted that while Putin has generally avoided
endorsing the most radical proposals, Russia’s Defense Ministry in April
published addresses of several European factories it said were producing weapons
for Ukraine.
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