Hardliners calling on putin to abandon diplomacy and move toward escalation

Hardliners are calling on russian dictator vladimir putin to abandon diplomacy and escalate the conflict, including by considering the use of tactical nuclear weapons. Reuters reported this on Friday, June 26.

Calls for tougher measures against Ukraine are nothing new. Nationalists have long insisted on full mobilization, the destruction of the government quarter in Kyiv, the assassination of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and strikes against military factories in Europe. Some of them have called on putin to consider the use of tactical nuclear weapons.

However, Ukraine’s strikes on targets within russian territory earlier this month have intensified and amplified these demands on putin.

Analysts believe that the increasingly harsh rhetoric reflects growing concern about the range and consequences of Ukrainian drone attacks, as well as a broader debate about how russia can defend itself.

“What else needs to happen before we start fighting for ⁠real? War means victory at any cost. The Ukrainians are at war, so they're fighting with everything they've got,” said russian “Orthodox” oligarch Konstantin Malofeev following one of the largest drone attacks on moscow.

He also asked himself why russia has not yet used nuclear weapons, “which our forebears developed and stockpiled with the full might of the nation precisely for ​this purpose,”

Reuters reports that some commentators are urging the country’s leadership to adopt what they perceive as Iran’s military and diplomatic tactics against the US. They want the russian military to render major Ukrainian cities uninhabitable through bombing. Others claim that the time has come to abandon US-mediated peace talks and strive for the complete destruction of the Ukrainian state.

Sources close to the kremlin claim that putin may tolerate such rhetoric. He heads a tightly controlled political system, and nationalist bloggers must adhere to certain rules.

However, analysts note that such statements may still complicate the decision-making process by inflaming public sentiment and raising expectations for a larger-scale military campaign, even though moscow still wants to keep the door open for a potential diplomatic solution.

So far, the kremlin has resisted calls from “hawks” to abandon negotiations, although this week three high-ranking officials stated that talks with the US had led nowhere.

Putin has also refrained from backing the most radical proposals put forward by nationalists, although in April the Ministry of Defense pointedly published the addresses of factories in several European countries that were allegedly producing drones for Ukraine. This was apparently a warning that they could become targets.

The russian Foreign Ministry also signaled a possible escalation of the situation last month, stating that moscow intended to launch “systematic strikes” against “military targets” in Kyiv. This was followed by more intense bombing, during one of which the Assumption Cathedral at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra was damaged.

So far, putin appears confident in his current strategy. On Tuesday, he told military academy graduates that russia is close to capturing the city of Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk Region as part of its offensive to establish control over the Donbas.

The russian dictator also noted that political forces in Europe hostile to russia are likely to be ousted by rivals whom he described as more level-headed.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on June 23, russian dictator putin stated that russia is allegedly ready for negotiations, but only on the basis of the Istanbul agreements, which provide for Ukraine’s de facto surrender.

As a reminder, yesterday, June 25, President Zelenskyy announced that he had approved an operation by the Security Service of Ukraine aimed at forcing russia to make peace and end the war.

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