According to theEconomistbehind the new wave of bombings and raids that are hitting Kiev and other Ukrainian regions there are some reasons intrinsic to the Russian power system itself. According to the British weekly, Vladimir Putin gave the green light to the escalation “for internal reasons, to maintain power and even life”.
The attacks continue
For days the Kiev region as well as other Ukrainian oblasts have been tormented by Russian offensives. Not that the attacks have stopped in recent months. But the new wave of bombings and raids is more surgical and lethal, the defense systems would not be able to intercept all the launched missiles or swarms of drones.
The Ukrainian energy infrastructures are in the sights, fundamental structures for the population as autumn approaches and then the colder season. The Russian army also targets logistics, transport and production centers (from storage sites to assembly and storage sites).”
On the morning of August 31, Russian troops carried out an air raid on Sloviansk, wounding four people: a skyscraper in the center of the city was hit and another 32 multi-storey buildings were hit. In the Zaporizhia region, the Moscow Army attacked a fire and rescue unit. While in Kherson a drone hit a healthcare facility, injuring two employees.
The reasons behind the escalation
The Economist writes that the Russian president “tries to explain his goals using the language of geopolitics, but in fact he is guided by the criminal logic of his regime: never show weakness. The system has a high tolerance for violence, but does not forgive failure.” And a failure would be considered to end the war without having conquered the entirety of Donbass. Putin had confessed to his entourage, already during the conflict, that “they would hang him” if he did not end the war with a positive result.
Ratcliffe’s visit
Hence the idea of going straight. Although, according to media reconstructions, the head of the CIA, John Ratcliffe, had explored the possibility of a three-way summit: Trump, Zelensky, Putin. In Moscow, the visit of the intelligence summit would be interpreted as a sign of weakness on the part of the United States.