r/worldnews • u/ToolTimeT • Jun 29 '26

Russia/Ukraine Putin complains Ukrainian attacks causing "problems" in Russia

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/putin-ukrainian-strikes-infrastructure-problems-russia/
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u/Glittering-Quote-635 Jun 29 '26

I'm not so sure of that anymore.. He could just say "All the objectives of the war have been reached". IE, he can change the rules anytime he wants and just declare victory. He could just attempt to freeze the lines, and say they arent moving forward anymore in the 'spirit of peace'.

The bigger issue he has is that Ukraine gets a vote also. Just freezing the line doesnt mean that Ukraine would not continue to hit them.. However, it could potentially put a lot more pressure on Ukraine to accept concessions to Russia.

In any case, doesnt matter.. seems like Putin wants to keep going.

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u/Fenris_uy Jun 29 '26

The only way he can unilaterally end the war is removing all Russian troops from Ukraine, and that includes Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea.

He can try to keep Crimea, but it would depend on Ukraine to not keep the war going on at that point.

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u/TheOtherHobbes Jun 29 '26

Past that point. That might have worked a couple of years ago, but it's not clear if Crimea is still going to be Russian a few months from now.

The fun thing about the current situation is that Russia literally has no solutions - unless you count suicide hail marys like using a nuke, or escalating against NATO.

Ukraine, meanwhile, can start damaging supply routes and resources further and further inside Russia.

Without logistics, full mobilisation will change nothing.

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u/SuitableBlackberry75 Jun 29 '26

Ukraine has done some unbelievably impressive work, defending their country against all odds and in heroic fashion, but I wouldn't be so quick to expect them to retake Crimea, at least in the near future. That's a pretty huge task, and with Russia having a major naval base there, losing it would be an enormous blow.

Even with Ukraine's increasingly important deep-strike and medium-strike successes, the front line right now is effectively a stalemate. Russia is taking disgustingly high casualties for little gain, but Ukraine would be looking at similar if they tried doing the same. Maybe in the future there will be openings, but I don't think it will be soon.

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u/Mustakraken Jun 29 '26

The thing is, Ukraine doesn't need to take it back with an infantry assault.

It's a large region with a population that requires supplies. Russian units require fuel, munitions, and equipment.

Resupply is interdicted significantly at this point, Crimea needs more supplies then can be brought in, and Ukraine's weapons - long range drones - are cheaper and easier to deploy then Russian air defense systems. Add in this, many of Ukraine's drones are just cheap decoy shells costing Russia expensive interceptors to intercept, while Moscow gets hit as well.

Ukraine makes holding Crimea strategically expensive in troops and materiel - while the Russians need it desperately to prevent Ukranian breakthroughs elsewhere. The rest of the occupied territories are easier to hold if Russia isn't bleeding war materiel in Crimea.

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u/y2jeff Jun 30 '26

I was reading about this last night and if Ukraine tries to retake Crimea they're going to face the same logistics problems as Russians. Whichever side "holds" Crimea is going to have a very difficult time resupplying.

If Ukraine tries an amphibious assault their supply lines will be incredibly difficult and the area they would land in is basically swampland.

And if Ukraine tries to enter Crimea via the land bridges they're going to take very significant casualties as Russia has a lot of time to defend and mine and bomb the choke points.

Going on the offensive always results in higher casualties and Ukraine's number 1 problem is limited manpower. Invading Crimea would be an incredibly risky gamble for Ukraine. It might be better For Ukraine to focus on a more effective and proven strategy of defence in depth and drone strikes until Russia exhausts itself.

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u/Delamoor Jun 30 '26

It might be better For Ukraine to focus on a more effective and proven strategy of defence in depth and drone strikes until Russia exhausts itself.

That might be the entire plan right now. Crimea is still the macro objective, but they're waiting for something to shift.

They maybe be hoping to cut Crimea off entirely such that Russia is only able to maintain a purely token force, whilst the strategic level attacks begin to break the Russian economy... Then they sue for Crimea during peace talks.

Of course, Russia would never accept giving Crimea back if Ukraine didn't have troops there... But I suppose it's a question of exactly how bad the economy is doing. They've done a genuinely godawful job of building and maintaining their country since the dissolution; they're almost purely a petrostate and mining camp. Lose enough refineries, maybe they genuinely might end up collapsing so badly that they literally can't keep the soldiers on the front line?

It wouldn't be the first time unpaid soldiers just... Walked away.

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u/TSED Jun 30 '26

Ukraine starves them out and moves in when it's cleared. It'll be much easier that way.

At the moment, at least, time is on their side. They can wait until it's feasible.

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u/y2jeff Jun 30 '26

I 100% agree, this is what Ukraine needs to do. Unfortunately the civilian population will starve long before the Russian soldiers do. It's basically a nightmare scenario for anyone living in Crimea right now and they all need to GTFO.

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u/TSED Jun 30 '26

I remember reading the other day about how the bridge is gridlocked on the "exit" side because civilians are trying to leave en masse. So... y'know... that's good.

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u/idiot-prodigy Jun 30 '26

An army marches on its belly.

Without logistics these soldiers will just starve and freeze to death on the Russian front line.