Russia launched its longest-range airstrike against Ukraine early this morning since the start of the war. Specifically, Moscow fired nearly 69 missiles and launched nearly 300 explosive drones, leaving hundreds dead and dozens wounded. That at this stage of the war, and just days after holding a two-hour telephone conversation with Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin has ordered this offensive clearly shows his intentions. peace.
The Russian president has linked his image to the invasion of Ukraine, and any sign of weakness, let alone a peace agreement, would shatter the image he has built of himself as the man who has restored imperial pride to Russia. anti-war It doesn't matter that there were 400,000 casualties, between dead and wounded, in 2024 alone, to conquer 1% of Ukrainian territory. Propaganda continues to inform the civilian population that it is gaining ground on Donald Trump, who promised he would end the conflict in a few weeks because this was "Biden's war," and now finds that Putin has grown to his size and is challenging him as much as he can. He can't give up like the Ukrainians.
At some point, the Trump administration will have to face reality and realize that the only way to drag Putin to the negotiating table is through sanctions. plus the feeling that the Russian president, old cat that he is, is playing games with the American president.
Meanwhile, the European Union has become Zelensky's only stable support, although there are doubts about whether it would be sufficient in the event of an American withdrawal. He also faces a serious humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Be that as it may, it is increasingly clear that without sufficient deterrence and a unified foreign policy, the EU will remain a second-class player on the international geopolitical stage.
