Reactions to the launch of new Russian hypersonic missile Oreshnik on the outskirts of the Ukrainian city of Dnipropetrovsk. As the Kremlin released a video of Putin surrounded by his top military commanders and extolling the virtues of his new weapon –“can reach any point in Europe and no anti-aircraft system, currently or in preparation, would be able to stop it,” General Karakayev, head of the missile unit, President Zelensky He asked his Western allies to show more firmness in the face of “very serious escalation” of the conflict.
As the Institute for the Study of War points out, There is something artificial in all this rhetorical strugglewhich perhaps makes it even more dangerous. Ukraine had already attacked Crimea and Belgorod with British and American missiles, as well as Russian positions in the four provinces unilaterally annexed by Putin in September 2022. Strictly speaking, from the Russian point of view, this red line against which the Kremlin is now furious had already been crossed a long time ago. Likewise, Russia has been bombing Ukraine with nuclear-capable missiles almost since the start of the war. There is nothing new, strictly speaking, apart from the words which accompany the facts.
So the ease with which Putin suggests that this particular missile could, if he so chose, make Western Europe disappear is certainly worrying…at least for those of us who have not experienced the continued threat of the Soviet bloc during the Cold War.
Also The lack of logic in all his arguments and the almost religious obsession bother him. for having successfully carried out his mission in Ukraine – a “theological” obsession, as the Biden administration defined it in 2022 – since it is difficult to measure how far he can be pushed without him deciding to goad himself and, in doing so, goad the rest of the world.
From Scholz’s diplomacy to British firmness
Zelensky He summed it all up in a single adjective: “crazy.” On his social networks, the Ukrainian president warned his Western partners that they had responded with too much lukewarmness in the face of the bombing of Dnipropetrovskwhile calling for more forceful actions to show Putin that he is actually playing with fire.
There is also something wrong in the president’s rhetoric, of course, because he knows like everyone else that, in itself, the launch of the Oreshnik does not change anything, but it is a logical configuration: Ukraine has been fighting for his freedom for almost three years and he now finds himself facing a certain defeatism from his allies. It must revitalize its dynamism by any means necessary.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met on Friday with the heads of the Defense Ministry, representatives of the defense industry and developers of missile systems.
Reuters
It continues to be seen in old Europe two very different souls. We could be represented by the German Olaf Scholzof which no one understood the appeal made public to Putin last week. In fact, Russia responded with one of the largest bombings against military and civilian targets in Ukraine. The other, firmer, has UK and France as maximum exhibitors. Macron had already made it clear at the time that neither Putin nor anyone else was going to tell France – a nuclear power – who he had helped militarily and who he had not helped.
As for the United Kingdom, the commitment of Keir Starmer He may not be as vocal as his predecessor Boris Johnson, but it doesn’t appear he will allow his country – also a nuclear power and a frequent target of Russian propagandists – to give in to the wishes of a tyrant schoolyard. Without going any further, the cnn This Friday, he recorded the remarks of a senior British army officer in which he assured that his country was ready to face Russia “tonight” in case Putin decided to invade another nearby country.
One eye on the missiles and the other on the front
Both sensitivities will have the we must reach an agreement within the framework of NATO next Tuesdayin an extraordinary meeting with the kyiv government to seek a coordinated response to the Russian escalation. In the middle, there will be the United States, which we do not know exactly where it will direct its foreign policy for the moment. Biden’s turn last Sunday was completely unexpected given that for two and a half years he had denied Ukraine permission to bomb Russian territory, with the aforementioned exception of Crimea – which the United States does not recognize annexation – and southern Belgorod to protect Kharkiv. .
The fact that this decision came after a meeting with Donald Trump suggests that it was the president-elect himself who encouraged him to make this decision. The White House said last Thursday that, for all of Moscow’s bluster, there was no sign that Russia was considering using nuclear weapons. When he thought about it, in the fall of 2022, American and Ukrainian intelligence anticipated the maneuver and Biden managed to pressure Putin and make him desist from such madness.
So one can imagine that at Tuesday’s much-needed meeting, the U.S. delegation will explain what exactly the two presidents talked about, warn their European partners about what to expect under the Trump administration, and also put Ukraine on notice . to make your own decisions. The problem for Zelensky at the moment is not only that Russia is testing new missiles, but also what they are calling from London “the most unstable moment on the front since the start of the war”.
And that’s it Russian advances are increasing even if it comes at a higher cost in human lives and weapons. Putin doesn’t want to negotiate around the table what he can get by force and if that means owing Kim Jong-Un a favor, so be it. What everyone is sure of is that this cannot last very long. The war in Ukraine has already lasted as long as the civil war in Spain. Both sides are exhausted, and in this exhaustion, fatal mistakes are made. The task will be for NATO and Russia’s allies to bring some understanding and common sense to a situation that is dangerously derailing.
