US-Backed Ukraine Peace Talks Ignore Russia's Unfettered Air Assaults
Kyiv needs long range Tomahawks to raise costs for a weakened Russia, says strategist Ken Robinson
Even as Russian and Ukrainian diplomats meeting in Abu Dhabi Wednesday called their U.S.-brokered discussions on ending the war “productive,” the reality is that Vladimir Putin’s massive air attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine won’t stop until he’s faced with a higher price for continuing his brutal campaign.
Starting Monday night, according to news reports, the Kremlin launched 71 missiles and 450 drones on civilian and energy targets across Ukraine, making it the largest assault since late December. Freezing Ukrainian cities were struck even as the two sides sat down to talk, with little evident progress on Russia’s major demand that Kyiv surrender significant real estate to Moscow.
This is no longer surprising, but it should still be clarifying. For three years, Moscow has used the language of diplomacy as cover for continued violence. Every “process” has been matched by another strike. Every pause in Western resolve has been interpreted not as restraint, but as opportunity.
This is the strategic context in which the debate over providing Ukraine with a long-range strike capability to hit strategic targets deep in Russia must finally be settled.
As Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy put it, “Without pressure on Russia, there will be no end to this war.”
For more than three years, Ukraine has fought a war it did not start against an enemy that promised victory in three days. That promise collapsed under the weight of Russian incompetence, corruption, and the simple courage of Ukrainians who refused to surrender their country.
This is not a frozen conflict. It is a war whose outcome is being shaped, day by day, by who has reach and who does not.
Right now, Vladimir Putin is weaker than he has been since the invasion began. His economy is under wartime strain. His cash reserves are being drawn down. His oil revenues, including from the so-called ghost fleet, are under increasing pressure. His industry is producing quantity, not quality. His army is increasingly made up of poorly trained recruits and coerced manpower. His generals rotate, fail, and rotate again. His logistics system is brittle. His air defenses are stretched. His rear areas are no longer sanctuaries.
