What goes 'round
comes round
I read the Russian press carefully. VZGLVAD is labelled as a “Kremlin mouthpiece” in the West, but it has a lot of independent writing, which may be different from the Kremlin’s view of things.
One of the more interesting writers is Andrey Medvedev. I am reposting a recently posted article, which makes some interesting points which I have put in bold italics.
It is particularly relevant now that Moscow is responding to Ukraine’s desperate terrorist attacks on civilian targets with intensive bombing and drone and missile attacks.
It has cut Ukraine off almost completely from Black Sea shipments to Odessa and Mykolaiv as well as attacking trucks, rail transport, and gas stations. With ship traffic reduced 50% by low water levels on the Danube, Ukraine is in trouble. In addition, Moscow has been attacking factories, warkshops, and warehouses .
In the first 5 days of August, according to Western sources, Russia launched s lot of drones and missiles.
August 1 through August 5, 2026:
August 1 (Overnight Barrage): 35 missiles (including 27 advanced ballistic weapons) and 185 strike drones. Only 1 ballistic missile was successfully intercepted due to ammunition exhaustion.
August 2: 133 strike drones and 0 missiles deployed overnight.
August 3: 181 strike drones and 0 missiles deployed overnight.
August 4: 1 ballistic missile and 100 long-range strike drones.
August 5 (Overnight Barrage): 28 missiles (24 ballistic variants and 4 supersonic/hypersonic anti-ship missiles) and 115 strike drones.
In addition, the Ukrainians have been losing more than 1000 men a day.
There is a talk of a Russian offensive against Kiev through Chernihiv, although I think it unlikely to happen—and most likely a story originating in Kiev, concocted by a regime desperate to get some kind of intervention from the West. Russia doesn’t have the manpower for this or the need to take on Kiev itself, fully occupied as it is in multiple areas. It’s just not in that big a hurry, as I keep on saying.
There is also talk originating with Zelensky about North Korea fielding 30,000 troops in Ukraine, reminiscent of claims back-when==that is, when North Korea sent troops to the Russian border areas, mostly for mine clearing, never more than about 500 deployed at one time, due to language problems.
No matter. The consequences of the West’s proxy war on Russia are now coming to bear on the unfortunate proxies— as the article explains.
Ukraine has become suspicious of the consequences of the war on infrastructure.
Ukrainian politicians and field commanders unleashed a war between the cities. And we had no choice but to respond. Respond harshly. Sink ships, burn gas stations and logistics. And suddenly, the Kyiv leaders didn’t like this.
Journalist, politician and author of : The True History of the Russian and Ukrainian People
The thoughts of one of Ukraine’s most active volunteers—and not just any volunteer, but a former advisor to the Minister of Defense—are quite interesting. After all, what does he write about?
He suddenly starts whining about how the war has devolved into mutual destruction of infrastructure. Sooner or later, the war will end (suddenly, right?), and the two countries will find themselves with completely ruined economies. And so, he says, it needs to stop, otherwise those bastard Russians won’t let it.
Why does this reasoning seem strange?
Because the overall news context in Ukraine and, most importantly, in the West, looks completely different. The entire Western press has spent the last two months endlessly reporting that Ukraine is winning,
Russia is on the brink of defeat, the Russian economy is about to collapse, the Russian army is about to flee... Well, it’s all in the style of Lev Shcharansky—if anyone older than him remembers such an online figure. Just like the old LiveJournal.
Judging by Ukrainian military chats, no one really believes in an imminent victory over Russia. But all reasonable Ukrainian military bloggers and even politicians believe in a protracted war of infrastructure destruction, where Ukraine has virtually no chance compared to Russia.
It must be said here that the Russian leadership left Ukraine’s infrastructure alone for a very long time. Both the military and political leaders faced tons of hate, but they stubbornly continued to ignore Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure. Probably based on the fact that the majority of people in Ukraine are largely led and not at all ideological Nazis. And a change in power or a shift in direction—and they’ll once again, as in 2004, rejoice in finally being friends with Russia.
I’m not ready to judge whether the decisions were right or not. It’s not my business or my level of awareness. But Russian is still the most important language in everyday life and business. People watch RuTube and VK videos. And language is the foundation of identity. Whatever you do with it.So, Russia was doing its best to delay the “war of the cities.” Our leadership, rightly or wrongly, sympathized with the people of Ukraine.
Understanding that politics is politics, the Nazis must be wiped out, the NATO proxy scum crushed. But ordinary people seemed to have nothing to do with it. The war between the cities was unleashed by Ukrainian politicians and field commanders. Because they decided they could “overpower the Russians” with a daring swoop. And after they started destroying our merchant fleet, oil refineries, and World Bank warehouses, there was nothing left to do but retaliate. Respond harshly. Sinking ships, burning gas stations and logistics. And suddenly, the Kyiv leaders didn’t like it.
And here’s what happens.
In principle, even if Russia loses some oil refineries or warehouses (yes, it’s their own fault, they turned a deaf ear and didn’t protect them), they’ll rebuild everything. They’ll restore everything. With losses, not without difficulties, but still. We have a different kind of resilience, and not just in the economy. It’s the skill of surviving the 1990s. The historical experience of Russia and the Russian people, when Moscow alone was burned to the ground by the enemy dozens of times, and each time it rose again. And then there’s our very strong notions of statehood and the state.
But Ukraine, even with Western assistance, is unlikely to be able to rebuild anything seriously. This is due to the number of people living in the former Ukrainian territory, the number of specialists who fled, and the fact that, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukrainian oligarchs have not invested in factories at all. So, many factors are starting to work against Kyiv.
This is precisely why Ukraine and the West now so desperately need at least some kind of truce, at least some kind of talk about a ceasefire. And yes, it’s true that the Americans themselves are running out of Patriot missiles. Will they share their last with their Ukrainian protégés? I’m not so sure. But are the Ukrainians sure?
Of course, we’re sure. But not everyone.
The “smart: ones say that some kind of truce is urgently needed.
I really hope no one gets it.
Notice the ending--” I really hope no one gets it.” What he means is that smart Ukrainian elite politicians will want an “out”, a truce – and then a compromise that keeps them in power. However, these are the people responsible for Maidan and the war and Ukrainian nationalism, which is inherently fascistic and Russophobic.
Russia has to decide to either destroy these people, try them in tribunals and sentence them to long stays in prison, which will force them to flee. The fact of the matter is that historically there is no “Ukraine” except in the imagination of nazi or fascistic extremists.
Typos! My last post.
Trump is blustering again, threatening to obliterate Iran, which I suppose means more low intensity war towards the end of the weak or on the weekend when the markets are closed.
A Freudian slip?
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I’ve said on more than a few occasions that the Norks weren’t there to reinforce the Russians, rather it was a live-fire learning opportunity in the face of NATO weaponry, strategy, and tactics. There is little upside for Russia to rush to a conclusion of the SMO if it leaves more than a handful of Ukie fighting age men who are willing to continue to seek vengeance.
Picture the US “victory” in Iraq and the mutli-decade occupation of hiding in green zones and camps and occasionally riding out to the locals’ greetings with IEDs. Russians are clever enogh to not want that sort of victory.
Thanks for this, Julian.
Medvedev is frequently described here as simply a 'bad cop' foil, for rhetorical purposes, as if all can be reduced to cliche games for (western) imbeciles, but he is, like Putin himself, someone the west first backed, then recoiled from in horror when they realized he had a spine! (honestly think they don't even consider that possibility, when sorting through client elites, 'cause they just don't ever encounter it, here).
Can't help thinking one reason all Russian media was cut off at the start of the war was because otherwise we'd be reminded most Russian politicians aren't inarticulate idiots - and if we saw that too often, we might start demanding some non-idiot representatives of our own!
Medvedev's points here, are unusually moderate (as I say, he is usually quoted only when hyperbolic, and even then, out of context). Can't help feeling there is a certain dark amusement at the insistence on epic-scale self-harming strategies on the part of the Ukraine (most, if not all, forced of course by the "superior power and reasoning" of their western leash and funding holding masters).
Cheers, man - keep on tilting! (more juicy windmills, just over the next ridge!) ;o)