New: #Russian forces conducted massive, coordinated missile strikes on over 20 #Ukrainian cities. Putin claimed the strikes were in retaliation for the explosion on the Kerch Strait Bridge, likely in part to curry favor with “pro-war” factions.
Read more: isw.pub/RusCampaignOct…
Read more: isw.pub/RusCampaignOct…
2/ The Ukrainian Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) also reported that #Putin has been planning this attack prior to the #KerchStrait Bridge explosion, and if true, could indicate that Putin planned this attack for the deflection of the Kharkiv-Izyum-Lyman failures.
3/ #Putin emphasized that he would conduct proportional escalation in any future retaliatory actions. isw.pub/RusCampaignOct…
#Putin stated that if #Ukraine continues to carry out “terrorist attacks against [Russian] territory, then Russian responses will be harsh, and their scale will correspond to the level of the threat to the Russian Federation.” isw.pub/RusCampaignOct…
4/ This declaration of proportionality suggests that #Putin intends to continue climbing the escalation ladder rung by rung and cautiously rather than jumping to more dramatic measures such as the use of nuclear weapons. isw.pub/RusCampaignOct…
5/ #Putin may also mean to message the Russian pro-war camp that they should manage their expectations of an ongoing daily bombardment of #Ukraine similar to the one conducted today. isw.pub/RusCampaignOct…
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