Enraged by Ukrainian drone strikes and frustrated by what they perceive as unfulfilled US promises to mediate an end to the war on favorable terms, Russian hardliners are urging President Vladimir Putin to abandon diplomacy and escalate the conflict.
Calls for tougher measures are not new: nationalist voices have long demanded full mobilization, the destruction of Kyiv’s government quarter, the assassination of President Volodymyr Zelensky, and strikes on European drone manufacturing plants. Some hawks have even suggested that the Kremlin consider using tactical nuclear weapons.
However, Ukraine’s deep strikes this month—on Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Crimea, as well as what Russia described as two deadly attacks on passenger buses—have intensified these demands. Analysts note that the increasingly harsh rhetoric reflects growing concern about the reach and impact of Ukrainian drone attacks, as well as broader debates about how Russia, with its vast territory, can defend itself while continuing to pursue its military goals in a conflict it initiated in 2022.
Calls for Escalation and Abandonment of Negotiations
“What else needs to happen before we start fighting for real? War means victory at any cost. The Ukrainians are fighting, so they are fighting with everything they have,” said nationalist magnate Konstantin Malofeev after a Ukrainian strike last week caused a fire at a Moscow oil refinery. “Why aren’t we using the nuclear weapons that our ancestors developed and amassed with all the nation’s might for this very purpose?” he asked.
Some nationalist commentators have urged Moscow to adopt what they describe as Iran’s effective military and diplomatic tactics against the United States. The blog Obsessed by War, which has over 650,000 subscribers, called for making large Ukrainian cities uninhabitable through bombardment. Others argue that it is time to abandon US-mediated peace talks and seek the complete destruction of the Ukrainian state.
“The start of systematic airstrikes on Moscow by the (Ukrainian) junta would have been impossible without Washington’s permission. And why did Trump give Zelensky such a green light? The answer is very simple—Iran ‘had Trump by the balls,’ and he was forced to sign a humiliating deal,” said nationalist blogger Yuriy Baranchik, who has nearly 90,000 subscribers. “Now he needs to quickly get back at someone… So we have no choice—either we get the upper hand over Trump, or he gets the upper hand over us,” wrote Baranchik on Telegram.
Kremlin Resists Hawks’ Pressure
Sources close to the Kremlin indicate that Putin can tolerate such rhetoric. He leads a tightly controlled political system that he has built over 26 years, and nationalist bloggers must adhere to certain rules. However, analysts note that such statements can complicate decision-making by inflaming public sentiment and raising expectations for a larger military campaign, even as Moscow seeks to keep the door open for a potential diplomatic resolution.
For now, the Kremlin is resisting the hawks’ calls to abandon negotiations, although three senior officials this week stated that talks with the US have led nowhere and accused Washington of failing to fulfill peace proposals made at last year’s Putin-Trump summit in Alaska.
Vladimir Putin has also avoided endorsing the nationalists’ most extreme proposals, although the Defense Ministry in April demonstratively published the addresses of factories in several European countries that it claimed were producing drones for Ukraine, which appeared to serve as a warning of possible targeting. The Russian Foreign Ministry also signaled escalation last month, stating that Moscow intends to begin “systematic strikes” on military targets in Kyiv. This was followed by more intense bombardments, during one of which a thousand-year-old monastery in Kyiv was damaged.
For now, Putin seems confident in the current strategy. On Tuesday, he told military academy graduates that Russia is close to capturing the city of Kostiantynivka in eastern Ukraine as part of its effort to control the Donetsk region. He also stated that political forces in Europe hostile to Russia are likely to be eclipsed by rivals he described as more moderate. “Those who want to restore normal relations with us, to stop this endless pursuit of Russia’s strategic defeat, are gaining momentum,” said Putin. “In the end, everything will work out.”
Source: The Straits Times