Afət Ziyadqızı
Following parliamentary elections held last month, the ruling United Russia Party secured more seats in the State Duma than before. The Kremlin has described the election result as a sign of strong support from the Russian people.
Operative Information Center-OMM reports that, speaking at a meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin demonstrated that he remains confident in his country’s ability to achieve a military victory.
Russian media outlets, encouraged by reports that Ukraine is facing shortages of air-defense missiles and expectations that attacks will intensify during the winter months, say these factors will increase pressure on Ukraine.
The Kremlin wants European countries to end their military and financial support for Ukraine. Western officials, meanwhile, accuse Moscow of expanding hybrid warfare through cyberattacks, acts of sabotage and unmanned aerial vehicles violating European airspace.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the BBC that Russian forces had destroyed missiles supplied to Ukraine by Britain and continental Europe, emphasizing that this amounted to a war being waged by Europe against Russia.
Experts say Russia aims to deprive Ukraine of its ability to function as a viable state and that, under the current circumstances, the war is highly unlikely to end in the near future.
The Russia-Ukraine war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, has continued despite repeated diplomatic efforts and international calls for a ceasefire. The conflict has also had wider consequences for European security, military alliances and energy markets.
