Russia is considering a broader campaign of ballistic missile attacks against Kyiv and other Ukrainian targets after concluding that diplomatic efforts to end the war have effectively collapsed, according to a new report.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Russia is preparing for a possible new phase of heavier attacks on Ukraine as the Kremlin increasingly concludes that negotiations aimed at ending the war have failed to produce a viable path forward, according to people familiar with Moscow’s thinking.
The Kremlin is considering expanding conventional ballistic missile strikes against Kyiv, potentially including targets in the center of the Ukrainian capital, while also increasing attacks on infrastructure in other cities, Bloomberg reported.
People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that Moscow now views the diplomatic frameworks previously under discussion as effectively broken down, leaving Russia and Ukraine close to where they were before the latest negotiating efforts began.
The assessment has contributed to growing expectations inside the Kremlin that the conflict could intensify further rather than move toward a negotiated settlement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is also not prepared to end the war because of pressure from Western sanctions or the mounting Ukrainian campaign against Russian oil refineries and logistics networks, according to the report.
Instead, Moscow has increasingly characterized Ukrainian strikes inside Russian territory as attacks carried out with the participation of NATO countries because members of the alliance supply Kyiv with weapons and intelligence.
People close to the Kremlin said Russia does not believe the war has yet reached its highest level of escalation.
Putin publicly raised the prospect of retaliation over the weekend while seeking to minimize the economic damage caused by Ukrainian strikes inside Russia.
He accused Kyiv of opening “this Pandora’s box.”
“Be ready to get a blowback on your most sensitive sectors of the economy,” Putin said.
The Kremlin reinforced that warning Thursday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Ukrainian attacks targeting Russian economic and commercial infrastructure “will be” answered with “a heavy response.”
Peskov nevertheless rejected the suggestion that Russia itself was pursuing a broader escalation of the conflict. He argued that Russian forces are already making advances on the battlefield.
The tougher rhetoric comes as U.S.-backed efforts to negotiate an end to the war have lost momentum.
President Donald Trump’s administration has been increasingly occupied with the conflict involving Iran, while attempts to narrow the differences between Moscow and Kyiv have stalled.
The Kremlin has also moved away from what Russian officials believed had been an understanding reached between Trump and Putin during their summit in Alaska last year, according to Bloomberg.
Moscow had believed that framework would result in the United States pressing Ukraine to surrender the eastern Donetsk region as part of a settlement.
Ukraine has repeatedly rejected Putin’s demand.
The territory sought by Moscow includes a heavily fortified line of cities in Donetsk that Russian troops have been unable to capture despite years of fighting.
That territorial disagreement remains one of the central obstacles to a negotiated end to the war and has helped reinforce the Kremlin’s assessment that the diplomatic process has returned to its starting point.
The stalled negotiations have unfolded alongside new high-level contacts between Washington and Moscow.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Moscow on Tuesday for a rare round of discussions with Russian officials.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Ratcliffe’s trip was intended to warn Russia against launching an attack on NATO countries.
The visit occurred as concerns persist among Western governments about the possibility that the war in Ukraine could eventually expand beyond the country’s borders.
At the same time, Russia has continued large-scale operations against Ukrainian targets.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces carried out a “massive strike” against Ukraine overnight.
The Russian military said the attacks targeted Kyiv and five other Ukrainian cities, along with infrastructure connected to the ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk and Reni.
The strikes came as Moscow was signaling that continued Ukrainian attacks on Russian economic assets could result in a more forceful response.
Ukraine has increasingly targeted refineries, logistical networks and other infrastructure inside Russia as it seeks to disrupt Moscow’s ability to sustain military operations and generate revenue.
The Kremlin, however, does not appear to view either those strikes or the broader economic burden imposed by Western sanctions as sufficient reasons for Putin to abandon Russia’s war objectives.
Instead, people close to the Kremlin told Bloomberg that Moscow sees diminishing alternatives to further military escalation if diplomacy remains stalled.
Another American effort to revive negotiations is nevertheless being prepared.
U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are expected to travel to both Moscow and Kyiv in an attempt to restart diplomatic discussions.
No dates for those visits have been announced.
The planned mission comes amid low expectations that the underlying disputes separating Russia and Ukraine can be resolved quickly.
Moscow continues to pursue territorial and strategic objectives that Kyiv has rejected, while Ukraine has shown no willingness to surrender the fortified Donetsk positions demanded by Putin.
The deterioration in negotiations has therefore left the Kremlin weighing a more aggressive military approach at the same time Washington is attempting another diplomatic intervention.
Without movement in the talks, people familiar with Kremlin thinking said Russian officials increasingly see further escalation as one of the few remaining ways to pursue Moscow’s objectives.
For now, expectations of a diplomatic breakthrough remain limited as both battlefield operations and retaliatory threats intensify.
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