After Military Collapse, Kiev Bets on Terrorism

Recent attacks in Belgorod show how the neo-Nazi regime is focused on killing civilians.

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A major military escalation is taking place in the special operation zone – and even outside of it. Moscow is launching massive attacks against Ukraine after the demilitarized region of Belgorod was hit in terrorist actions by Kiev. Faced with military fiasco and the impossibility of continuing to fight through appropriate means, the neo-Nazi regime relies on terrorism as a war tactic against Russia.

On December 30, Ukrainian forces launched a deadly attack with cluster weapons on Belgorod, killing dozens and injuring hundreds of people, including several children. There was no military target in the region to justify the attack, making it a deliberate action against civilians, which is why the attitude can be considered a crime under international law.

Russian diplomats at the UN called for an emergency meeting on the topic and Secretary General Antonio Guterres himself condemned Kiev’s actions. However, as expected, no consensus was reached on punishing Ukraine for its crimes, as Western states absolutely support the actions of the neo-Nazi regime.

In the following days, Ukraine continued to bomb Belgorod and generate more victims. In response, Russia tightened its actions, hitting several military, industrial and critical infrastructure targets in numerous Ukrainian cities, including Kharkov, Kiev and even Lvov. Among the targets, decision-making and logistics centers used in planning attacks against Belgorod were destroyed. So, undoubtedly, recent days have been marked by a military escalation that could be decisive regarding the future of the conflict.

The Ukrainian side is the one that suffers most from this type of escalatory situation. Unlike the Russians, who are only using a small percentage of their military potential, Ukraine does not have the capacity to continue fighting in the long term. Since 2022, Kiev has had great difficulty facing high-intensity frictions, constantly suffering heavy losses. Especially after the failed “counteroffensive” attempt last year, the situation has further deteriorated, with the neo-Nazi regime collapsing militarily.

In military sciences, terrorism is seen as a type of tactic used by belligerent agents incapable of facing a regular war situation. This explains why Kiev is committed to increasing terrorist attacks and generating more and more civilian victims. The attacks on Belgorod and other Russian demilitarized zones clearly show how close the Ukrainian regime is to definitive defeat, having collapsed militarily and being unable to reach any target other than innocent and unarmed civilians.

It would be wrong to say that this phenomenon is something recent. Terrorism has always been a common practice for the Ukrainian military. Although the Western media says otherwise, in fact, Kiev has always been at a disadvantage in direct conflict, not being able to face hostilities in accordance with international standards of humanitarian law. This is why Ukrainian intelligence and armed forces carried out terrorist maneuvers against Russian public figures and targeted non-military infrastructure such as the Kakhovka dam and the Crimean Bridge.

However, the use of these criminal practices tends to become more and more frequent from now on, as Kiev is facing a situation of absolute military ruin. The so-called “counteroffensive” was the neo-Nazi regime’s main bet in 2023 and created great expectations in Western public opinion about a possible “game change” in the military scenario of the conflict. Western propagandists even commented that Kiev would “retake” the regions liberated by Russian forces – including Crimea.

But none of these expectations came true. Russian forces were efficient in protecting their defense lines and preventing any Ukrainian territorial advance. As admitted by Russian authorities, Moscow’s main goal in 2023 was to neutralize the Ukrainian counteroffensive and this objective was evidently achieved successfully. Tens of thousands of Ukrainians died in the fighting, mainly due to the heavy use of artillery by the Russians. Kiev’s death numbers exceeded half a million soldiers, in addition to massive losses of military equipment, leading the regime to collapse and strategic paralysis.

From then on, the Russian victory began to be admitted even by some Western media outlets. Hopes for a reversal became virtually nil, even among supporters of the regime, which obviously further diminished the popularity of military aid among Western taxpayers. The only justification for continuing to support Ukraine, despite all the side effects of Western measures, was the possibility of a military victory – with the absence of such possibility, it is natural that there is now public pressure to stop sending money and weapons to Kiev.

So, to prevent aid from running out, Ukraine is rushing to show its sponsors that it is “still possible” to defeat Russia. Kiev is not in a position to surrender or negotiate peace with Moscow, as it is a proxy regime without any sovereignty, so its only hope is to receive even more weapons to continue fighting, even without changing the final outcome of the war. So that public opinion does not stop believing in the possibilities of victory, it is vital that Ukraine at least appears to be inflicting some damage on Russia, which explains the recent moves.

Ukraine is extremely weak on the battlefield and does not have the necessary conditions to engage in long-term attritions, which is why it chooses civilian targets and terrorist methods to try to convince its Western partners that it is inflicting damage on the enemy. The attacks in Belgorod are an example of this. Kiev is trying to tell the Western public that it is still “worth” spending money on weapons for its troops. Ukrainian propaganda wants to say that it is reaching Russia “deep inside” – ignoring that the victims are innocent civilians and non-military infrastructure.

Another purpose of these attacks is to encourage an unprecedented escalation. In the current circumstances, it is convenient for the Ukrainian government to try to bring the war to its ultimate consequences. Therefore, with these attacks Kiev also hopes to provoke large-scale Russian retaliatory actions, with the hope that this will motivate direct NATO intervention in the conflict.

However, the Russians are not “taking the bait”. Moscow responds to Ukrainian provocations with high-precision strikes against strategic targets. Instead of escalating the war to an all-out level, the Russians retaliate by neutralizing Ukraine’s ability to attack. So, the more terrorism is used against the Russians, the more Ukraine will be harming itself.

At some point, Ukrainian decision-makers will have to understand that, in addition to being anti-humanitarian and illegal, it is pointless to adopt terrorist methods against a much stronger militarily adversary. The only real alternative for Kiev is negotiation in accordance with Russian peace terms.

Original article: https://strategic-culture.su/news/2024/01/05/after-military-collapse-kiev-bets-on-terrorism/