Putin’s Military Strategy of the Moment in Ukraine

Putin’s Military Strategy of the Moment in Ukraine,

as of October of 2022

Russian President Vladimir Putin needs to keep the presence of large numbers of soldiers in the war arena in Ukraine even if they are losing overall or in general, but attacking and having some successes, if only for show and to intimidate and harass the Ukrainian government, population and armed forces, to stress them -- along with their mission [to try] to hold onto and undertake more of their commanded land thefts from [the territory of] Ukraine. The bombing and shelling of Ukrainian municipalities, or urban centers, and towns and villages, civilian habitations, by the armed forces of Russia and their collaborators under the command and direction of the Putin political-military regime of Russia are meant to degrade and demolish their habitability and thereby inflict intolerable survival-related deprivation and suffering, as well as societal disorganization, chaos, panic, despair and flight, on the civilian population of Ukraine, the bulk of the Ukrainian populace and voting citizenry, stress them and the political leadership of Ukraine at all levels of society into longing for peace and to surrender to the Russian regime for a cessation of and relief from such hostilities against and destruction of Ukraine, as well as into rebelling against their top national political and military leaders prosecuting a war against the invader Russian armed forces of Ukrainian sovereign territory.

In major part, these attacks on civilian population centers may be intended to turn the civilian population against the Zelensky presidency of Ukraine and to oust Ukrainian President Zelensky in the next Ukrainian election, or before then, and elect or install an alternative candidate for the office of president of Ukraine who would be eager to negotiate an end of the war with the Russian regime that would be palatable to and an appeasement political and territorial win for the Putin Russian regime.

Winning the war by urban demolition or the destruction of civilian population centers has worked for the Russian Putin regime in Chechnya and Syria. The Russian Putin regime's emphasis on its threats of a willingness to use its nuclear weapons if the war is brought to Russian territory credibly acts as a deterrent in limiting the Russian-Ukrainian war territorially to being an offensive war only against the territory of Ukraine and allowing the Russian armed forces in Russia and Ukraine to degrade the habitability of and destroy the cities, towns and villages of Ukraine at their discretion and whim without the consequence of retaliatory military strikes on attacking Russian armed forces and sites in Russia proper. In this situation, it does not matter how much the Russian armed forces in Ukraine lose (soldiers, weaponry, etc., positions and territory) to the Ukrainian armed forces, they are able endlessly to conduct their demolition military bombing and artillery strikes against Ukrainian defenseless, sitting-ducks civilian-center cities, towns and villages.

Putin's war against Ukraine is indicatively a geopolitical war to sour the Ukrainian population and electorate on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the US population and electorate on US President Joe Biden and his/the US Congressional leadership Democratic Party as well as the populations and electorates of NATO member nations on the leaders of primarily European NATO nations -- poison the socioeconomic political ambience of these democratic nations and depopularize their top elected leaders -- in view of and in their reaction to the fuel energy shortages and economic losses they, households and businesses collectively, are experiencing as a result Russia’s retaliatory sanctions against the USA and NATO member nations for their leaders’ criticism and economic sanctions of Russia because of the Russian Putin regime’s war against Ukraine, and their leaders supplying arms to Ukraine to fight off the Russian Putin regime’s military aggression against and land grabbing in Ukraine.

In this way, in reference to the USA, the greatest military and economic power of humanity and leader of NATO, the Putin regime, and probably its economic partner and friend the membership nations of OPEC, contributing to fossil fuels shortages and in spillover-effect inflationary and budget-busting and profit-curbing high prices, imposed on the USA and NATO member nations, led by the Putin regime of Russia, are banking on, negatively (cost) investing in, the return of their pal Donald Trump as US president in 2025 and the Trumpian-cult GOP as the US Congressional leadership political party to be elected in the Congressional majority in November of 2022, officially effective in January of 2023, and retained as the Congressional majority and leadership political party in the national elections of November of 2024, officially effective in January of 2025.