Russia is taking steps to escalate the war against Ukraine as US President Donald Trump's efforts for a peace settlement fail. This Sunday, the Russians carried out the biggest attack on Ukraine since the war, the first time in more than three years that they have hit a government building, writes The Telegraph.
According to the publication, the Russian attack on the building where Ukraine's cabinet of ministers meets has been in preparation for a long time. The Russian military-political leadership has repeatedly threatened to strike “decision-making centers”, but until recently these sounded unrealistic.
The author of The Telegraph's article believes that there are three reasons why Russia has decided to escalate the conflict in this way and at this very moment.
First, Russian President Vladimir Putin is responding to pressure from pro-war ultranationalists in his coalition. With the Russian economy teetering on the brink of recession and growing war fatigue among Russia's young citizens, Putin needs to make sure that the ultranationalists are still on his side.
"Second, Putin sees Trump's reluctance to punish Russia for continuing the war as a sign of weakness and is testing the limits of the American head of state's patience. When the threat of tough sanctions and massive secondary tariffs seemed serious, Putin bought time by promising a breakthrough in peace talks in Alaska. Trump’s acceptance of these peace proposals at face value has emboldened Putin to further test the limits of Western resolve,” the publication explains.
The author recalls that when Russia struck a civilian enterprise in Mukachevo, which is an American business, with missiles on August 21, Trump took no action in response. This indecision may have pushed Russia to attack the buildings of the British Council and the EU in Kiev on August 28, as well as to disrupt the flight of the plane of the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
When these provocations received only a rhetorical response, Russia raised the stakes even further by striking the building of the Ukrainian government, writes The Telegraph.
The author of the article points out as a third reason the intention of the Russian Federation to deter Ukraine from attacks on Russian energy infrastructure. It is estimated that these attacks disrupted the operation of at least 17% of the Russian country’s oil refining capacity. Now that the G7 price ceiling for Russian oil has fallen to $45 per barrel, the Ukrainian drone attacks are putting financial pressure on Russian energy giants.
"And since Russia's military operations cost between $500 million and $1 billion a day, Putin is trying to force Ukraine to stop these drone strikes. If Trump continues to offer Russia two-week reprieves and fails to meet his ultimatums, attacks on Ukrainian state facilities and Western diplomatic institutions could become more frequent. British and European targets are particularly vulnerable as the Kremlin tries to prevent Europe from committing to deploying peacekeeping forces in Ukraine after the war,“ the publication emphasizes.
The publication notes that the risk of Russia going to war with NATO remains as high as ever. And while Putin takes steps to escalate the war, Western politicians should not make concessions to Putin. According to the author of the article, peace in the West must be achieved by force. And the fulfillment of Trump's promise of a second phase of sanctions against Russia would be an extremely necessary step.
During one of the latest massive attacks on Ukraine, Russian troops attacked the building of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. As a result of the attack, a fire broke out in the building. The attack passed without casualties.
The Defense Express publication previously stated that the government building was not hit by a drone, as initially believed. Analysts of the Ukrainian publication say that the strike was carried out by a missile from the OTRK "Iskander", according to the analysis of the fragments found there. Experts told Defense Express that when the missile hit the parliamentary building of Ukraine, the missile did not explode. The fire that broke out on the upper floors of the Council of Ministers building was caused by ignition of fuel from the tanks of the Russian missile. Moreover, it is believed that the situation could have been worse if the warhead of the 450-kilogram missile had exploded.
Photos of the remains of the "Iskander" that hit the government building were later shown at the EU embassy in Ukraine. It was noted that a hole was left in the roof of the building from a direct hit.