Strength to negotiate
Russian President Vladimir Putin boasts about the medium-range missile launched against the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. His bet is blunt in a bloody poker game that lasts long enough to create deep cracks in the resistance capacity of Russia, but, above all, of Ukraine and its allies.
The strategy of the NATO allies was to suffocate the Russian economy. However, Putin is coping with the situation because he had prepared well in advance to deal with the sanctions. Now he is very smug in presenting a new missile built with modern Russian technology, he has assured, that cannot be intercepted by current anti-missile systems and can reach any target in Europe.
Syria has been for several years the training and experimentation ground of the Russian military industry and its results are now being exhibited by a defiant Putin who is upping the ante. The new Oreshnik missile has been described as a medium-range ballistic missile in a hypersonic non-nuclear configuration.
Moreover, the Russian president speaks of global warfare because the United States and the United Kingdom have allowed Ukraine to use their missiles to attack Russian territory. He does not speak of the presence of thousands of North Korean soldiers on its territory.
The increase in the caliber, the range, the destructive capacity of the missiles used in the Russian invasion of Ukraine causes enormous concern. The risk is growing, and so are the deaths. Most of them civilians. Action, reaction in recent weeks between Russia and Ukraine.
Ukraine surprised a few months ago with the occupation of the Russian region of Kursk, which it still holds. Putin enlisted thousands of North Korean soldiers while increasing lethal shelling of Ukrainian energy facilities. This winter is going to be very hard for Ukrainians.
In response, the United States and the United Kingdom allow President Zelensky to use long-range missiles to attack Russian territory. The response is the launch of a ballistic missile, which he did not carry but which can harbor nuclear warheads.
Putin passed a decree to use his nuclear weapons with more agility. This is the constant threat of this conflict that will hopefully be limited to force to negotiate. Donald Trump's victory in the United States is notably influencing military decisions. It may come before long, after Trump's inauguration in January, the negotiating table, and here everyone wants to have as much strength as possible to gain the upper hand.
This interpretation is the most optimistic within the catastrophe suffered by Ukraine, suffered by all of us. A complicated negotiated solution.