ISW: Putin tries to intimidate Ukraine and the West through Kremlin insiders
Kyiv • UNN
Kremlin insiders indicate that Putin remains committed to a war of attrition strategy against Ukraine and the West. He believes that military escalation will force Ukraine into peace negotiations on his terms.
Statements by Kremlin insiders continue to indicate that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin remains committed to his strategy, according to which Russian forces will be able to win a war of attrition against Ukraine and the West, and that the West has so far failed to convince Putin to reconsider his strategy. This is stated in a material by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), reports UNN.
Details
Analysts point to a Bloomberg article, which previously, citing unnamed sources in the Kremlin, reported that Putin had concluded that military escalation is the best way for Russia to force Ukraine into peace talks on his terms.
Putin assesses that US President Donald Trump is unlikely to "do much" to strengthen Ukraine's defense, and US-Russian talks in Alaska on August 15, 2025, convinced Putin that Trump is not interested in intervening in the war in Ukraine. Sources said that Putin intends to continue to engage in any bilateral dialogue with the United States, but will continue to act in a direction he considers to be in Russia's interests. Sources said that Putin intends to continue to attack Ukraine's energy grid and other critical infrastructure
According to experts, the sources' statements indicate that recent US efforts to mediate a peaceful settlement of the war in Ukraine have not affected Putin's calculations, and that Putin remains committed to the idea of a military victory over Ukraine.
Putin's recent actions, including the decision to redeploy more forces to the Donetsk region and Russia's recent incursion into the airspace of NATO member states, further underscore his commitment to both continued military aggression against Ukraine and future military aggression against NATO member states.
They suggest that Putin likely allowed these Kremlin sources to share his logic with Bloomberg and thus seeks to exploit friction between European and American officials, reinforce the broader Russian narrative that Russia's victory in Ukraine is inevitable, and create fear in Ukrainian society ahead of the winter of 2025-2026.
"The Kremlin firmly controls the Russian information space and has significant influence over most Russian officials and insiders, suggesting that Putin may have orchestrated or at least approved the leak of information from Kremlin sources to a Western publication," the analysts conclude.
Recall
According to Bloomberg sources, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin plans to continue attacking Ukraine's energy grid and infrastructure.
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