A raid across the Ukraine-Russia border by a group consisting of anti-Putin Russians and Ukrainian citizens is raising new questions about Moscow’s defense strategy. The border raid in the city of Belgorod in southwestern Russia comes just a few weeks after drones attacked the Kremlin.
Straight Arrow News contributor Peter Zeihan says the involvement of ethnic Russian groups poses a new threat to Vladimir Putin and his plans to win the Ukraine War.
Excerpted from Peter’s May 26 “Zeihan on Geopolitics” newsletter:
A group of ethnic Russians opposed to Putin’s government joined forces with Ukraine and launched an assault across the border into the city of Belgorod. There are three main takeaways from this cross-border attack.
Russia didn’t bother garrisoning its logistical centers along the Ukrainian border. While this assault was quickly put to rest, this will be crucial as Ukraine launches more attacks in the coming weeks and months.
We’re going to hear a lot more about Belgorod in the future. It’s one of the critical points the Russians use to launch assaults into Ukraine. For Ukraine to “win“ this war, Belgorod will need to be neutralized, one way or the other.
The final component is that these are ethnic Russians…fighting against Russia…in Russia. So this little hiccup might throw a wrench into some of those “for the Russian people” propaganda pieces that Putin is pushing.
As I’ve said before, the Russians will continue pushing this war until they can’t, and if Ukraine wants to win, they’ll eventually have to cross the border. These partisans may have just answered how that might be carried out.