This morning, the somewhat slow and boring chronicle of the war in Ukraine in the last two weeks has undergone a decisive acceleration. Thanks to weapons - and training, let's not forget - the Ukrainians have hit, in addition to deposits and military bases as has been happening for some weeks, the Antovskiy bridge in Kherson - just under 1.400 meters in length: ten times the Milvian Bridge in Rome and approximately as much as the cable-stayed bridge of Piacenza, to make two local comparisons -, the only road access from the East towards the capital of the homonymous Oblast and the only passage for Russian supplies. In short, now the only way to move weapons, ammunition and men for the Russian troops is to go through the Chornobayvka airport, the "cursed" terminal we recently talked about (see article). The problem is not only tactical, if we consider that now the Russians could face a possible counter-offensive - or a siege - with their backs to the river and in a situation of serious logistical crisis. Recall that on the other side of the Dnipro there are only huge agricultural or marshy lands that offer no protection.
Shortly after, by return of post, came the announcement of the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, that geographic objectives "Russia in Ukraine have changed:" Now, [our] geography is different. It's not just DNR and LNR1, but also the Kherson region, the Zaporizhzhia region and a number of other territories ", he said in an interview with the state news agency RIA Novosti and the Kremlin-controlled Russia Today network. Lavrov linked the change in goals to the West's arms supply to Kiev. According to Lavrov, Russia cannot accept that "in the parts of Ukraine that [President Volodomyr] Zelensky or his replacement will control, there are weapons that pose a direct threat to our territory and the territory of those republics [of eastern Ukraine] that have announced their independence … If Western countries provide long-range weapons to Ukraine, [these goals] will move even further ".
Despite President Vladimir Putin's claims that Russia does not intend to permanently occupy Ukrainian territories, officials sent by Moscow to manage the Ukrainian regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhya have expressed their intention to hold referendums to join Russia.
As we wrote just today (see article), it is typical of the Russian tradition to increase the pressure and to resort to threats to use force (or to use it even more) in any confrontation, military or diplomatic, because it is part of the culture of that country. In short, after days and days spent listing bases and warehouses incinerated by Western fire, it is natural that there is this escalation, for the moment only verbal.
We take advantage of the war to learn more about some aspects of the culture of peoples known only to a few experts in times of peace. For the rest, we await the inevitable developments of these two important innovations.
1 The people's republics of Luhansk and Donetsk.
Frame: Tax
