{"id":7324,"date":"2026-06-19T11:50:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T11:50:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/7324\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T11:50:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T11:50:22","slug":"moscow-strikes-signal-ukraines-aggressive-new-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/7324\/","title":{"rendered":"Moscow strikes signal Ukraine\u2019s aggressive new strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIf Ukraine burns, your Moscow will burn,\u201d crowed<\/a> Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday. And burn she did. Smoke billowed over the Russian capital after Kyiv launched<\/a> its largest drone attack since the start of the war. Dramatic images showed<\/a> the roof of a crucial oil refinery blown apart, wrecking infrastructure that supplies up to 40%<\/a> of the city\u2019s gasoline.<\/p>\n

The assault appeared to be swift retribution for this week\u2019s deadly Russian strikes that set a Kyiv cathedral ablaze<\/a>. Yet, while that may have been the immediate catalyst, it was also a reflection of longer-term confidence on Ukraine\u2019s part, both in the strength of its weaponry and in its diplomatic position. The Bars hybrid drone-cruise missiles used were believed<\/a> to have a range of between 600 km and 800 km. Yesterday\u2019s strikes on Moscow suggest their capabilities extend beyond that.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, at this week\u2019s G7 summit, Donald Trump signed onto a statement<\/a> that upped Ukraine\u2019s air defense capabilities and committed to strengthening sanctions on Russia. He met<\/a> Zelensky for the first time in over four months and \u2014 according<\/a> to French President Emmanuel Macron \u2014 acknowledged that the Kremlin is not truly interested in peace.<\/p>\n

Zelensky can feel secure in the knowledge that, for now, his friends are behind him. But what about the enemy in front of him? Russian President Vladimir Putin will be embarrassed by the attack, not least since it occurred while he was hosting<\/a> an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Kazan, and because it sparked widespread disruption<\/a> as well as online panic<\/a>. Amid a lack<\/a> of sirens and warnings, Muscovites have posted<\/a> that they intend to depart the city or \u201cjust didn\u2019t think the war would affect us like this\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s strategy hinges in part on bringing the war home to ordinary Russians, eroding public support for the conflict by shattering the sense of distance that has long insulated Moscow from most<\/a> consequences. As strikes hit the capital, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha urged<\/a> denizens to direct their complaints towards the Kremlin: \u201cNow that you know what\u2019s going on, ask Putin when he is planning to end it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The strategy rests on a dubious assumption, namely that public frustration can translate into political pressure. There is little evidence that even Russia\u2019s most powerful business figures possess any leverage<\/a> to alter the Kremlin\u2019s course, let alone ordinary citizens constrained by pervasive restrictions<\/a> on freedom of speech. Kyiv also assumes that shock and fear will fuel demands to end the war, rather than harden public attitudes and strengthen calls for retaliation against those responsible for bringing the conflict to Moscow\u2019s door and endangering civilian lives.<\/p>\n

On the one hand, the attack has undermined Russians\u2019 confidence<\/a> in the government\u2019s capabilities. One milblogger, known as \u201cFighterbomber\u201d, criticized the authorities, writing<\/a> that \u201cthe enemy has correctly calculated the forces and assets needed to hit the target. But you haven\u2019t.\u201d Rather than demanding a Russian withdrawal from Ukraine, however, he stressed that \u201cno one in the country gives a damn how [Ukrainians] are suffering<\/a>\u201d and hoped for \u201cwonder weapons<\/a>\u201d to appear. Other military bloggers rallied against Russia\u2019s \u201cweakness<\/a>\u201d, demanding<\/a> the use of nuclear weapons and proposing that the Office of the Ukrainian President be \u201crazed\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Kremlin can, of course, arrest milbloggers who step too far out of line \u2014 and has already done<\/a> so. But their criticism points to a broader reality. Muscovites are just as likely to rally around the flag as hope for an end to the war, and are more likely to blame attacks on the Ukrainians who launched them than the Russians who started the war.<\/p>\n

Putin is unlikely to let this cycle of escalation end here. An Oreshnik strike or the targeting of a symbolic Ukrainian landmark could be his next move. Within Russia, such a response would likely be welcomed by segments of the public as justified retaliation. Exposing weakness can often harden resolve rather than diminish it. The problem with revealing someone as weak is that they become determined to prove you wrong. As Zelensky watches Moscow burn, he must remember that fire spreads.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIf Ukraine burns, your Moscow will burn,\u201d crowed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday. And burn she did. Smoke…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7325,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[25,26,319,983,33,35],"class_list":["post-7324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-russia","tag-ukraine","tag-ukraine-war","tag-uncategorized","tag-vladimir-putin","tag-volodymyr-zelensky"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}