Kathrine Frich
You can easily spot this desperation spilling into public view.
When a military campaign drags on for years, early promises of a quick victory always fade.
Behind closed doors, confident leaders slowly begin to panic.
You can easily spot this desperation spilling into public view if you know exactly where to look.
Empty nuclear threats
Vladimir Putin originally expected his forces to capture the Ukrainian capital in a matter of days. Now, his military is just inching forward. They are absorbing massive daily losses along the way. To cover up these struggles, Russian officials have heavily increased their warnings about using nuclear weapons.
A recent memo to NATO explicitly threatened the use of their entire arsenal over the Kaliningrad region. But Western leaders simply ignore this aggressive rhetoric.
Retired British Army colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon told the Express that the Russian president has completely ruined his trump card.
“He’s fired that shot and nobody really believes it anymore,” the former military commander said.
Asking Pyongyang for help
The Kremlin is also looking far beyond its own borders to keep its frontline supplied. Moscow now depends heavily on North Korea. They need the isolated nation to provide both artillery shells and ballistic missiles.
Former intelligence officer Philip Ingram explained that this reliance exposes deep flaws in the Russian manufacturing sector. The domestic industry simply cannot sustain the war effort alone.
“That shows his defence industrial base hasn’t got the capacity to keep up with what’s needed from the conventional military perspective,” Ingram told the Express.
Forcing a new draft
Beyond running low on ammunition, the Russian military is rapidly running out of combat-ready soldiers. The human toll is absolutely staggering. British military officials estimate that Moscow has suffered over a million casualties since the conflict began.
Intelligence analysts now suspect Putin might soon order a deeply unpopular nationwide mobilization. He desperately needs to replace the estimated 40,000 troops his army loses every single month.
Ingram noted that these extreme manpower measures reveal a severe weakness in the current Russian strategy.
“The mobilisation plans are a sign of desperation,” Ingram added. He pointed out that Ukrainian forces continue to push back on the battlefield.
