Russia is preparing to escalate attacks on Ukraine after concluding that negotiations for a peace deal have reached a dead end, according to three people close to the Kremlin.
For now, Russia is weighing an intensification of powerful conventional ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv, including the center of the capital, and infrastructure targets in other Ukrainian cities, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is sensitive.
Negotiation frameworks have all effectively collapsed, leaving the two warring sides back at square one, the people said. Putin won’t end the war under economic pressure from sanctions and Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries and logistics networks, they said.