Forty missiles, 580 drones, three dead and dozens injured. Another death toll yesterday from the latest wave of attacks on Ukraine . The raids once again prompted jets in Poland to scramble for "maximum readiness," while tensions remain high after Russian MiGs crossed the border into Estonia.
Moscow has denied violating the airspace of the NATO country. But for the Alliance, there is no doubt that this was a new provocation by Vladimir Putin, increasingly determined to test the West's response to the Russian military threat . Indeed, it seems that Donald Trump's hesitations are fueling the crisis on Europe's eastern flank: according to Bloomberg, citing Kremlin sources, the tsar has concluded that military escalation is the best way to force Ukraine to enter into talks on his terms. He also considers it unlikely that the American president will do much to strengthen Kiev's defenses.
According to sources in Moscow, it was precisely the Alaska meeting that convinced Putin that the tycoon has no interest in intervening in the conflict: since that day, Russian forces have intensified their attacks against military and civilian targets in Ukraine. And Putin intends to continue targeting Kiev's energy grid and other infrastructure, in a war of attrition aimed at definitively forcing concessions from Ukraine that Zelensky has so far rejected. Faced with this situation, Trump has repeatedly expressed his "disappointment" in Putin, threatening to take action in the form of "significant sanctions" against his economy. But so far, he has failed to follow through on his words: the tycoon wants European countries to act first, stopping oil purchases from Moscow and imposing tariffs on China and India in retaliation for their purchases of Russian gas.
(Unioneonline)
