Perhaps it is time for the allied countries to step in and blast Putin to pieces as we see an escalation of Russian attacks on several Ukraine cities, and now Kiev, its capital.
The recent wave of Russian attacks on several Ukrainian cities has been praised by pro-Kremlin figures, who are calling on President Vladimir Putin to maintain the intensity of military action. This intensification is a blow and another setback to Ukraine. However, for Russian nationalist commentators and state media war correspondents, they have praised Monday's attack as an appropriate and long-awaited response to last week's Ukrainian counteroffensive and last weekend's attack on the bridge between Russia and Crimea.
Several of those commentators argued that Moscow should maintain the intensity of Monday's attacks and others even suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin was taking a very soft position in the Ukrainian conflict. A war correspondent, Alexander Kots wrote, "This is one of those cases where the country needs to show that we can take revenge," for the pro-Kremlin tabloid newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda.
The response came on Monday morning when Russia launched dozens of missiles at several Ukrainian cities, including Kiev, killing and wounding dozens of people and inflicting unprecedented damage to Ukraine's critical infrastructure.
For the first time in months, Russian missiles exploded in the heart of Ukraine's capital, near government buildings, and Putin appeared in public saying the attacks had been in retaliation for what he called "terrorist" actions by Kiev.
On that same day, the influential leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov said he was very happy with the course of the Kremlin's special military operation in Ukraine, notably the "drastic measures" decided by the Kremlin, insisting on his call for low-intensity nuclear weapons to be used against Ukrainian forces.
This situation is extremely worrying, and disheartening for those Ukrainian citizens who have decided to stay in the country.
Take care!
Prof. Carl Boniface
Ask yourself the following questions:
1. Is the rest of the world mongering over the war?
2. Why aren’t the allied forces attacking Russia in retaliation?
3. Should Ukrainian counteroffensive have attacked the Crimean bridge between Russia and Crimea?
Vocabulary builder:
Mongering means the act of encouraging a particular activity, especially one that causes trouble: They accused him of rumour-mongering/scandal-mongering. Fear-mongering often takes the place of thoughtful and objective analysis. (syn) peddling, huckstering, hawking, vending, pitching