Symptoms are emerging that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could collapse.
One of the most obvious setbacks to his war is his recent big call for more troops, a plan that doesn’t seem to be working. team.
The appeal follows weeks of embarrassing setbacks for Russian forces as Ukraine has retaken swathes of its territory. And in the Russian-occupied city of Kherson, Moscow-appointed officials evacuated civilians ahead of the expected Ukrainian counteroffensive.
On Russian state television, the tone is approaching despair. Russia has miscalculated its strength and for 8 consecutive months cannot win in its war against Ukraine, one commentator said.
Perhaps the sign of Russian desperation is its new tactic: targeting Ukraine’s network of force, which has led to blackouts in Ukraine, but not a collapse in morale.
As Russian nuclear forces began annual drills this week, President Vladimir Putin repeated his government’s claim that Ukraine could detonate a radioactive device, the so-called “dirty bomb. “
Some worry that Russia is planning a false flag operation, staging an incident and blaming Ukraine, perhaps as a pretext for a nuclear weapon.
“I still don’t assure you this is a false flag operation, I don’t know,” President Joe Biden said. “But that would be a big, big mistake. “
Ukraine’s defense minister told CBS News that Russia is exhausted and forces Ukraine and the West to negotiate.
In a speech this week, Putin criticized his opposition to the West, adding gay pride parades and so-called cancel culture. But he also said it would make no sense for Russia to use a nuclear weapon.
Biden’s reaction to this has been: If he doesn’t have intentions, why does he stay talking about it?