Despite the fog of propaganda on both sides, it’s hard not to hear an increasing drumbeat of doubt that Russian President Vladimir Putin is going to survive his profound strategic miscalculation.
Satellite images show snow-covered fields pockmarked with artillery craters – there is no avoiding the cliche, it is a “moonscape” – while entire streets of apartment buildings have been reduced to charred, or battered, husks.
For reasons of morale and motivation, Ukraine cannot afford to allow Russia even this relatively small victory. This may come at a high price for Kyiv: clinging to Soledar, and even Bakhmut, may be robbing the Ukrainians of the troops they need for offensive operations to retake territory elsewhere. Russia, Freedman says, “is stuck with a form of warfare that depends on artillery barrages and indifference to casualties, which limits its options and requires continuing supplies of shells and men”.
If the war has any chance of ending sooner rather than later, though, the tipping point is equally if not more likely to come away from the battlefield.Despite the fog of propaganda on both sides, it’s hard not to hear the increasing drumbeat of doubt that Russian President Vladimir Putin can survive his profound, strategic miscalculation.
Ingram speculated that Prigozhin could even be a “wild card” to replace Putin – something that may be pushing the president to rein in the mercenaries who have served him so well in previous, overseas adventures.The Institute for the Study of War reckons there was probably a military motivation, not just a political rebalancing.
“We are currently witnessing an unfolding revolution in global security that Western policymakers are clearly unprepared for – the impending collapse of the Russian Federation,” Janusz Bugajski, a senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, wrote on the Politico website this week. But quietly, diplomats and politicians ponder when and how conditions will ripen for a peace conference, and what the end-game might be.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Putin dumps 'brutal' top commander after three months for infamous chiefThe Russian President has appointed a new commander to lead the Ukraine war in a move the defence ministry said would 'increase the level of leadership' and improve the 'effectiveness of the management of forces'.
Read more »
Ukraine military denies Russian forces have captured SoledarSeizure of town would represent substantial gain for Moscow after series of humiliating retreats
Read more »
Ukraine says Russian troops are marching over bodies of their own dead in SoledarRussia says its forces are edging closer to capturing a salt-mining town in eastern Ukraine, which would mark an elusive victory for the Kremlin but come at the cost of heavy Russian casualties and extensive destruction of the territory they claim.
Read more »
Genocide investigation opened against Peru president after protest deathsForty people have been killed during a month of protests, with the UN Human Rights office calling for impartial investigations into the deaths
Read more »
Indonesian president 'strongly regrets' country's past human rights violationsIndonesian President Joko Widodo acknowledges a series of incidents amounting to 'gross human rights violations' have taken place in his country's past, including the bloodshed and arrests that took place in 1965 and 1966.
Read more »
President Zelensky ‘sort of compared the efforts of Ukraine to the movies’Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “sort of compared the efforts of Ukraine to the movies” during a virtual appearance at the Golden Globes, says The New York Post’s Entertainment Critic Johnny Oleksinski. “I don’t know if I feel great about that,” Mr Oleksinski told Sky News host James Morrow. “This is his second award show appearance after the Grammys, and I think maybe he should give it a rest on that front.”
Read more »