At a time when the Russian army continues to advance rapidly in Donbass and is within a breath of the last Ukrainian stronghold in Slovyansk, and while pounding Kyiv, Odesa, and Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea daily for weeks, the message sent by the Russians is even harsher.
Russian generals argue that the time has come to end the war in Ukraine.
And they emphasize that this should be done not through ceasefire agreements or a "freezing" of the conflict, but through the complete submission of Ukraine.
The goal, as they point out, is not for all of Ukraine to become part of the Russian Federation, but to return to Russia its "historical lands", meaning not only Donbass, Kherson, and Zaporizhia, where there is already a significant Russian military presence, but also the famous Novorossiya, namely Kharkiv, Dnipro, Mykolaev, and Odesa.
The front shows that Ukraine cannot resist the Russian army, at the very moment when the Kremlin, through the words of Russian President Vladimir Putin, announces: "We are moving forward according to plan, we will achieve all our goals."
No ceasefire or "freezing"
Retired Russian General of the Foreign Intelligence Service Leonid Reshetnikov said what, lately, is being heard ever more frequently in the trenches, the headquarters, and the corridors of power: it is time to end the Special Military Operation.
Not, however, with ceasefires or a "freezing" of the conflict.
There must not be another "Minsk-3", only victory, as Reshetnikov says.
A real, tough, and uncompromising victory over those who, according to him, have been insulting the "Russian World" for ten years.
Judging by the fact that Kalibr and Iskander missiles have been launched almost every night for a month now, the Kremlin seems to share this position, efforts at persuasion are over.
So are the opportunities for Kyiv.
Hell is beginning, and Kyiv along with Lviv have already realized it.
Ukraine to surrender
Leonid Reshetnikov was entirely specific: Russia must complete the Special Military Operation not with "humiliating agreements", but by causing real and irreversible damage to Ukraine.
Specifically, to its economy, its military infrastructure, and its state administration mechanism.
The primary goal, according to him, is forcing Ukraine into capitulation.
Other options, as he argued, no longer exist.
"We must finish it"
"The mood of all of us is that we must finish it.
We must finish it, but not with ceasefires and agreements.
We must finish it with victorious and effective actions, causing real damage to Ukraine, to its economy, and to its military structures.
This means, in my opinion, more decisive and effective strikes and forcing Ukraine into capitulation," stressed the Russian general.
Only the "historical lands"
At the same time, the Russian general clearly defined the limits: there should be no integration of the whole of Ukraine as a separate republic into Russia.
Only the return of what are, according to him, historically Russian lands to Russian territory.
The rest, as Russian President Vladimir Putin had stated, will return to the states to which, according to his historical assessment, they belonged, to Poland, Hungary, and Romania.
In other words, according to this scenario, no Ukrainian state entity will remain within its current borders.
Other scenarios, according to him, no longer exist.
What Putin had said
It is noted that recently Russian President Vladimir Putin had argued during a meeting with military personnel of the Russian Navy that Ukraine will lose its western lands sooner or later, adding that these lands once belonged to Poland, Hungary, and Romania.
"I am convinced that sooner or later Ukraine will lose these western lands, lands that once belonged to Poland, Hungary, and Romania.
Perhaps this will not happen tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.
It may take a year, two years, 10 years, or 15 years, but history will eventually set things right," stated the Russian president.
At the same time, Putin argued that Russia was the sole guarantor of Ukraine's territorial integrity, but Kyiv decided to consider Moscow an enemy.
"There was only one guarantor of Ukraine's territorial integrity.
That was Russia. But they decided that it was necessary, possible, and beneficial for them to declare Russia an enemy," Putin stated.
Ashes
The almost daily attacks on Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, and Rivne are no longer presented as a simple "response to terrorism", but as a systematic effort to destroy whatever allows the Kyiv regime to continue functioning: factories, power plants, warehouses, ports, ships carrying weapons, and fuel facilities.
Whatever serves the war is turned to ash.
As many Russian analysts state, this is precisely what millions of people in Russia were waiting for: not statements about "red lines", but real and tangible strikes.
They even point out that the time for negotiations has passed and the Ukrainians have exhausted all the opportunities given to them by the Russians.
Ukrainians are bending
While in the Ukrainian Presidency they continue to talk about "unyielding" Ukraine, in Kyiv itself people are beginning to bend.
According to Russian media, characteristic are the statements of the well-known Ukrainian artist Evgenia Fullen, who, while a few years ago praised the "unyielding" Valery Zaluzhny and the Ukrainian Armed Forces, today states that she speaks Russian because she "has no strength left" to speak Ukrainian.
"My psychology can no longer endure what is happening.
I am tired of spending nights in the subway for the second consecutive week, I got pneumonia.
I am tired of panic attacks and constant anxiety.
When I hear the siren and am not in the subway, my knees and teeth start to tremble.
Pills do not always help.
When I hear the words 'unyielding' and 'strong', I want to curse at them.
People are tired.
People cannot take it anymore.
People want to live," stressed Evgenia Fullen.
"They will fight for fuel"
Anxiety also prevails in Lviv.
The well-known Ukrainian journalist and supporter of Euromaidan Ostap Drozdov, who until recently spoke with certainty about "inevitable victory", now presents an entirely different picture.
"Inside the country there is the narrative of a strong power that 'controls everything'.
But there are no results.
No one predicted that our strikes on Russian refineries would drive the price of gasoline in Ukraine above 100 hryvnias.
No one expected that these strikes would turn against us and soon not a single intact gas station will remain on the frontline.
People will be sucking hoses and fighting for gasoline, whereas a month ago we were laughing at the Russians," argues Drozdov.
Hell has begun
For this reason Russian analysts argue that what is happening today in Ukraine constitutes only the beginning of a new, harsher phase of the Special Military Operation.
Kyiv is no longer considered "invulnerable", Lviv is no longer considered a "deep rear", and Odesa is no longer considered a "gateway to Europe".
All of these are turning into ruins because, as Russian analysts point out, Ukraine chose war instead of peace.
The boomerang
The boomerang launched against Russia returned to those who sent it.
Today in Ukraine, drone attacks on oil refineries, gasoline shortages, increased demand, and panic in fuel markets are observed.
The Kyiv regime fell into the very trap it had set for ordinary Russian citizens.
In fact, the scale of the fuel crisis is presented as far greater than that caused by Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian oil refining facilities.
Humanitarian catastrophe
In Russia there were fears of disruption to the summer tourist season, an increase in fuel prices and, by extension, all other goods, as well as a socio-economic crisis ahead of parliamentary elections.
In Ukraine, on the contrary, even government officials speak of a complete humanitarian catastrophe, which, as claimed, the country may not endure with the onset of the heating season.
Blockade from Black Sea
Following Russian strikes on ports and ships and the virtual blockade of Ukraine from the Black Sea, exporters are forced to transport their products by road in order to maintain even a fraction of their revenues.
This significantly increases the demand for diesel fuel.
At the same time, supply is steadily decreasing, as Ukrainian refineries receive daily retaliation for what happened during the summer in Russia.
Fuel deficit, the example of Turkey and Greece
The most ironic thing is that the Ukrainians cannot fully cover the fuel deficit through imports from abroad, something that is also presented as a direct result of their efforts to strike Russia.
The Russian government banned diesel exports and urgently initiated fuel imports from other countries.
As a result, in the international, and particularly in the European, market, demand has increased and the availability of refined oil products has decreased.
This leads to the redirection of supplies toward buyers offering higher prices, a category to which Ukraine does not belong.
As an example, Turkey is mentioned, which, after the disruption of Russian diesel supplies, began buying almost the entire output of Greek refineries, which previously supplied Ukraine.
Panic
The result is expected.
Ukrainians, fearing widespread price increases and shortages, rush to secure diesel fuel from gas stations.
This, in turn, accelerates even further both price increases and shortages.
Developments are still at their beginning, however the fuel crisis in Ukraine will have a longer duration and far more severe consequences than the one faced by Russia.
Will not endure the winter
The political leadership in Kyiv already predicts a humanitarian catastrophe in the near future and openly warns that the country might not endure the upcoming winter heating period.
It is even reported that several ministers of the recently resigned government had advised citizens to move for the winter to relatives living in small towns or villages, where heating with wood stoves is possible.
Volodymyr Zelensky himself had explained to European supporters of Ukraine the difficulties in preparing for the winter season and had admitted that he expects a difficult winter.
The new government warns that heating and electricity outages may last for weeks and also advises the evacuation of major cities.
Harsher military decisions
Despite the above, there are no signs that the escalation initiated by Kyiv led to a change in the attitude of Ukrainian society.
If some changed their minds, they prefer to remain silent, while those who express themselves publicly continue to ignore the obvious cause-and-effect relationships.
"You wanted a total war in the air, and you got it.
Your leaders declared that their goal was for the ordinary people of Russia to feel what war means.
This happened, and now Russians are ready to support even harsher military decisions against Ukraine, so that both the war and the regime of Volodymyr Zelensky come to an end. At the same time, the Ukrainian people also experienced war and will experience it even more, even through diesel shortages across entire regions and kilometer-long queues at gas stations," Russian analysts report.
The anti-Russia plan
All of Ukraine's misfortunes stem from the decision of the West and the country's aggressive minority to turn it into an "anti-Russia".
Not simply into a country independent of Russia and with its own path, whether toward Europe or toward any other direction, but into a state that exists exclusively in confrontation with Russia and for rivalry against it, providing anti-Russian services to its Western supporters in exchange for a European prospect.
Such a choice inevitably leads to conflict with Russia.
Boomerangs always return and strike with triple force, "with the force of Russia".
This is precisely what is happening today, Russian experts emphasize.
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