Categories: ANALYTICS

Strike on Kyiv

In the early hours of December 20, Russian occupiers launched a missile attack on Kyiv using five 9M723 Iskander/KN-23 ballistic missiles. All ballistic targets were intercepted and destroyed. Simultaneously, Russian MiG-31K interceptor jets, carriers of Kh-47M2 “Kinzhal” missiles, were airborne, simulating reaching launch positions.

I would like to draw attention to several interconnected events that preceded and, in some sense, announced this act of terror — yet another war crime committed by Putin’s regime. But first, let’s address another wave of discourse that is, to put it mildly, inappropriate for discussion and clearly generated by the Russian side.

The narrative currently circulating online claims that the strike on Kyiv was carried out because the war criminal Vladimir Putin was allegedly offended by being officially referred to as a “dumbass” and an “old fool” yesterday. According to this story, the “offended dumbass” and “old fool,” with tears in his eyes from the cutting truth, ordered the strike on Kyiv out of spite.

In reality, this is fake and a manipulation. It is fake and manipulative because it is impossible to issue such an order for a complex strike and execute it within just a couple of hours.

Such attacks are planned in advance. Targets are selected and calculated, ammunition is allocated, launch sites and air corridors for missile deployment are determined, flight assignments for airborne carriers are prepared, and routes for kamikaze drones are mapped out. Therefore, the Russian IPSO about the “offended Putin” is aimed at shifting responsibility for the strike from the war criminal to the president of Ukraine — suggesting that the attack was provoked by the alleged insult.

In reality, this strike was planned in advance and was likely intended to serve as an accompaniment to yesterday’s “Putin live Q&A session,” during which he openly threatened Kyiv with an imaginary “Oreshnik” missile while rambling in a delusional tirade about some kind of “duel.” However, in the early hours of December 20, Kyiv was struck not by these fictitious “Oreshniks” for obvious reasons, but by ballistic 9M723 Iskander missiles.

Essentially, during yesterday’s Q&A session, Putin not only openly admitted that he started the war against Ukraine because he was “bored” and wanted some “action,” but also demonstrated his unwillingness to end it. This further confirms a truth that is well-known to us but still not fully grasped across the ocean: what negotiations can there even be with this individual?

For Putin, the priority has always been, and will remain, the desire to seize territories and spread terror. Stopping this maniac is only possible through direct force, not with a piece of paper containing vague “guarantees.”

Alexander Kovalenko