Kathrine Frich
European leaders are fighting back with fresh sanctions.
When a massive military power faces sudden strikes at home, the top brass rarely stays calm.
Leaders who spent years projecting total control can find themselves scrambling for answers.
Now, a senior European official claims this exact scenario of pure panic is playing out behind closed doors in Moscow.
Signs of panic
According to Romanian news outlet Digi24, European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas believes the Russian government is losing its grip. She says recent strikes deep inside Russian territory have left leaders deeply confused.
The targets of these attacks are carefully chosen. Drones are hitting the oil terminals and factories that keep the Russian military funded and supplied.
Kallas told the AFP news agency on Wednesday that the strategy is working perfectly.
“We see, at the same time, that Putin is losing money, people and momentum, and that is why he is intensifying attacks on civilians,” she noted.
A burning problem
Her comments arrived on the very day a major fire engulfed one of the biggest oil depots in St. Petersburg. The blaze erupted just as the city was hosting a massive economic conference.
That drone strike followed a grim sequence of events. Russian forces had just launched heavy airstrikes across Ukraine, leaving at least 23 people dead and wounding more than a hundred.
Kallas explained to AFP that the Kremlin is acting out of desperation rather than strength.
“It is clear that he is resorting to more acts of terror to create fear and because he is on the defensive on the battlefield,” the EU official said.
Stopping the cash
European leaders are fighting back with fresh sanctions. Digi24 reports that the upcoming rules will focus strictly on shutting down the money pipeline before it reaches the frontline.
Kallas wants to hit financial institutions and the arms industry. Stopping the cash is the only way to halt the war machine.
The ultimate aim is simple. Western powers want to force the Russian government to sit down and negotiate a lasting peace agreement.
Even so, Kallas stressed that Europe must keep sending weapons right away.
“At the same time, we need to increase support for Ukraine, so that it can defend itself, because these attacks are atrocious,” she told AFP.
Sources: Digi24, AFP
