From statements that “the matter is coming to an end” to the massive shelling of Kyiv and warnings from diplomats about “moving to systematic strikes,” only a few days passed. But this does not mean that Putin planned to end the war and then changed his mind and returned to the shelling.
In reality, nothing has changed. As before, Putin wants the war to end quickly. But he wants it to end with Ukraine’s capitulation.
Putin’s “the matter is coming to an end” only demonstrates the degree of his detachment from the actual state of affairs. There haven’t been people in his circle bringing bad news for a long time. That is why he is confident that the war is “coming to an end,” the Ukrainian army is on the brink of catastrophe, Kupiansk has been “liberated,” and by the end of summer, Kramatorsk and Mala Tokmachka will be taken. Putin’s appeal to Ukrainian soldiers “do not follow the criminal orders of the illegitimate junta” is from the same play, as the parallel universe created specifically for him allows him to live in the belief that in Ukraine, Russians are still met with flowers.
Putin’s “SMO” has only one goal – the destruction of Ukraine. The initial plan to achieve this by military means failed in March 2022, when Russian troops fled from Kyiv. Everything that happened after that is different forms of pressuring Ukraine to sign a surrender agreement. Military actions on the front and missile attacks on Ukrainian cities are aimed solely at pressuring Zelensky to agree to sign whatever the Russians bring to him.
The return of Donald Trump to the White House opened a new direction of pressure on Ukraine for the Russians – through the US administration. As a result, the Russians convinced themselves that they had agreed with Trump on Ukraine surrendering its territories and hung a sign on their bumper that reads “Spirit of Anchorage.” Trump denied any agreements, and the Russians did not receive the Donetsk region.
As a result, the deadlock at the front combined with a deadlock in negotiations. This deepened further last week when Secretary Marco Rubio stated that the US had completely withdrawn from the negotiation process.
I have written many times that negotiations are critically needed for the Russians. They have no other ways left to achieve the “objectives of the SMO.” To bring the US back to the negotiation process, they started this spectacle with diplomats’ warnings about the need to evacuate from Kyiv. Lavrov personally called the US Secretary of State so that he wouldn’t miss anything and would start panicking. In response, the State Department published a meaningless press release about “the parties exchanged views on the war,” but in the absence of concessions from Putin, they see no point in further participation in negotiations.
It is now evident that time is working against Putin. With the economy collapsing, refineries burning, Putin’s ratings falling, and Mala Tokmachka holding, all the Russians can do is hope for Donald Trump, who is supposed to perform a miracle and gift the whole of Ukraine to the Kremlin. Since the American president has lost interest in negotiations, Putin has to come up with some new escalation just to get the US to notice and return to the negotiation table, and remember the “Spirit of Anchorage,” which exists only in the imagination of the Kremlin.
As a result, the war, which from the very beginning had no rational basis, has completely transformed into a collection of myths in the head of the Leningrad pensioner.
On the background: Renowned sculptor and artist Martynas Gaubas presented his provocative work entitled “Chuylo.” The sculpture depicts Vladimir Putin as a male genital organ in a helmet. Photo: LRT
