“We can be certain that Putin will mount a counteroffensive to try to reclaim that territory,” Cohen said. “I think our expectation is that that will be a difficult fight for the Russians.”

Putin, he said, “is not only going to have to face the fact that there is a front line now within Russian territory that he’s going to have to deal with, he has to deal with reverberations back in his own society that they have lost a piece of Russian territory.”

  • lepinkainen@lemmy.worldEnglish
    27·
    2 months ago

    The greatest thing about this is that Putin can’t just carpet bomb the areas to rubble like Russia does when attacking.

    • talEnglish
      21·
      2 months ago

      I am skeptical.

      Remember, the area that Russia hit is area that Russia intends to annex; i.e. they want it to be part of Russia. If they’re willing to hit that, I’m not at all sure that hitting area in Russia is off-limits.

      Also, currently the area that Ukraine holds in Russia isn’t terribly populated; not many people and structures. I haven’t been watching closely, but I think the largest was Sudzha.

      It has a population of 5,127 people.

      That’s probably at least partly evacuated and not exactly a metropolis.

      • lepinkainen@lemmy.worldEnglish
        191·
        2 months ago

        Russia is 100% about optics, what things look like is more important than how they actually are.

        The optics for a) losing territory and b) bombing your own territory is not good. A good Tsar never loses ground, a good Tsar increases the size of Russia

        • addictedtochaos@lemm.eeEnglish
          13·
          2 months ago

          you remember when the kursk sub went down? (i am really old) there was this babushka, ant they drugged her in front of everyone in the press conference, because she was freaking out, and they speak their mind, they fear nothing once their son or husband is dead or missing. they have nothing to lose.

          its not like a karen, you see. its like a nurturing hero figure, a symbol.

          and the only thing a russian man will defend TO DEATH against his motherland is his wife, or his babushka, or ANY babushka.

          its a quite interesting cultural thing. I am serious, once the babushkas rise, its over for putin. sounds crazy, but its true.

        • addictedtochaos@lemm.eeEnglish
          6·
          2 months ago

          exactly. if you watch recent russian state tv (those people who talk in a discussion round), you have the impression that they are at a loss of words, because what they are allowed to say contradicts what is happening.

      • lepinkainen@lemmy.worldEnglish
        71·
        2 months ago

        Optics, everything in Russia must look Correct.

        Like how they make laws so that their acts are “legal”. They do write them after the fact sometimes, but there is a law they can point to.

        • jonne@infosec.pubEnglish
          4·
          2 months ago

          Putin didn’t care about optics in Beslan or at the Dubrovka Theater. He can control what the media knows about this, and even if villages are destroyed he can just blame the Ukrainians.