Russia’s biggest air attack on Ukraine reinforces a sense that its president, Vladimir Putin, has been emboldened by US indecision and by a visit to China that highlighted the shared purpose of autocrats whose hostility towards the West is increasingly strident.
Moscow’s military fired more than 800 explosive-laden heavy drones and 13 missiles at targets across Ukraine in the early hours of Sunday, and for the first time struck government headquarters in central Kyiv, setting part of the building on fire.
Smoke pouring from the political heart of Ukraine sent its own stark message about the state of US-led efforts to bring Moscow to the negotiating table, but it was no less blunt than Putin’s own bellicose rhetoric after returning to Russia late last week from a summit and a military parade in China.
A day after 26 western countries – including Ireland – said they were ready to play a role in a postwar “reassurance force” for Ukraine if a peace deal made it possible, Putin openly threatened to attack any foreign troops on its neighbour’s territory.
RM Block
They would be “legitimate targets for destruction”, Putin said, while also making a mockery of US efforts to convene a Russia-Ukraine peace summit by insisting that he would meet Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy only in Moscow – not at any neutral venue – and by saying any agreement on key issues was all but impossible.
Donald Trump told European leaders last month the US would not send peacekeepers to Ukraine but was open to playing a “co-ordinating role” in providing postwar security guarantees to Kyiv, potentially including air support.
A “coalition of the willing” – made up mostly of European countries but including Canada and Australia – has moved quickly under the loose leadership of France and Britain to firm up commitments from its members but Trump is still stalling on what, if anything, the US will ultimately provide.
[ New global order? Modi, Putin and Xi offer glimpse of what may lie aheadOpens in new window ]
Reports emerged on Friday that the US is planning to end a programme known as Section 333 that funds military training and equipment for EU and Nato states in eastern Europe – another clear signal to Russia that Trump has no interest in maintaining his country’s leading role in the region’s security.
The cracks spreading through the West’s security architecture can only embolden Putin – and the leaders of China, North Korea, Iran and other autocratic states who are deepening co-operation just as the US severs ties with its old allies.
