While the Kremlin continues to put on a bold and courageous show in regard to their invasion of Ukraine, there are plenty of telltale signs that things are not going according to plan.
One of the most obvious ways in which we can tell that Vladimir Putin is failing is just how he has been utilizing some of his more powerful and important weaponry.
Russia pummeled the vital port of Odesa, Ukrainian officials said Tuesday, an apparent effort to disrupt supply lines and Western weapons shipments critical to Kyiv’s defense.
Ukraine’s ability to stymie a larger, better-armed Russian military has surprised many who had anticipated a much quicker end to the conflict. With the war now in its 11th week and Kyiv bogging down Russian forces and even staging a counteroffensive, Ukraine’s foreign minister appeared to suggest the country could expand its aims beyond merely pushing Russia back to areas it or its allies held on the day of the Feb. 24 invasion.
And while Odesa’s onslaught was previously fairly conventional, the latest from the port city has revealed the desperation and unpreparedness of Putin.
Ukraine alleged at least some of the munitions used dated to the Soviet era, making them unreliable in targeting. But the Center for Defense Strategies, a Ukrainian think tank, said Moscow used some precision weapons against Odesa: Kinzhal, or “Dagger,” hypersonic air-to-surface missiles.
Ukrainian, British and U.S. officials say Russia is rapidly using up its stock of precision weapons, raising the risk of more imprecise rockets being used as the conflict grinds on.
The use of hypersonic missiles in Ukraine is a rather drastic maneuver, particularly as these exotic weapons continue to be the basis for the Kremlin’s nuclear threats.
