Vladimir Putin’s ruthless strategy: ‘standing back and just shelling’

By dragooning Russia’s ‘impoverished minorities’ into the army, he can keep grinding on

Mourners in Vinnytsia
Mourners in Vinnytsia, west-central Ukraine
(Image credit: Oleksandr Lapin/Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

Ukrainian officials have a new saying, said Thomas Friedman in The New York Times: “All the dumb Russians are dead.” It’s a “backhanded compliment”, meaning that, after suffering ruinous casualties – at least 15,000 troops have been killed – Russian forces have devised an effective strategy. It involves “standing back and just shelling and rocketing Ukrainian cities in the east, turning them to rubble and then inching forward”.

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