Ukraine Lashes Out at Russia

The recent seizure of Bakhmut by Russian forces was perhaps the single bright spot in a dismal season of failure and frustration for the Kremlin, and even that small tactical victory was tainted, because it was almost certainly a strategic loss, given the enormous number of casualties Russia suffered to achieve it, estimated at <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/05/01/world/russia-ukraine-news#:~:text=A%20trove%20of%20leaked%20Pentagon,to%2017%2C500%20killed%20in%20action." rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">100,000 soldiers</a>. Still, with drones bombing Moscow yesterday, and the war in Ukraine increasingly spilling into Russia itself, it’s clear that the Kremlin’s problems are only just beginning. Amid the simmering tension of waiting for Ukraine’s counteroffensive to begin, there have been numerous attacks, assassinations, sabotage, and even prolonged incursions into Russian territory, adding to a growing sense that the Kremlin has been caught flatfooted, and is seemingly helpless in the face of a war it started, but can’t seem to finish. For his part, Vladimir Putin appears to be paralyzed, at the mercy of events entirely out of his control, prompting harsh but indirect criticism from his mercenary warlord, <a href="https://medium.com/@alexziperovich/wagner-chief-says-war-is-a-failure-6da13ddd81cb" rel="noopener">Yevgeny Prigozhin</a>, about the conduct of the “special military operation,” and Russia’s deteriorating strategic position. Last week, in a scathing interview, the Wagner chief said the war in Ukraine was an abject failure, and warned elite Russians that they could expect violent revolution from below if the war continued going poorly. <a href="https://alexziperovich.com/ukraine-lashes-out-at-russia-73fc25e1349b">Read More</a>