Russia & Ukraine: Putin Threat Must Be Countered

By all indications, Russia is preparing a winter assault on parts of Ukraine that it left untouched when it annexed the Crimean peninsula and launched a hybrid-warfare campaign against the Eastern Donbas region.

Vladimir Putin and his ideological allies have spent the past several months making the case for absorbing Ukraine. Per the head of Ukraine’s defense-intelligence service, Moscow had, as of mid November, placed some 92,000 troops on its border with Ukraine. That’s fewer than the over 100,000 soldiers it moved there during a similar buildup in the spring, but this time, there’s much more military equipment positioned for a potential invasion, and these forces have also taken new positions. Russian troops are thought to be capable of flooding into launching points already equipped with heavy weaponry to begin an assault, all within one or two weeks’ time.

About the Author

The Editors

The Editors comprise the senior editorial staff of the National Review magazine and website.

Featured Tags

By all indications, Russia is preparing a winter assault on parts of Ukraine that it left untouched when it annexed the Crimean peninsula and launched a hybrid-warfare campaign against the Eastern Donbas region.

Vladimir Putin and his ideological allies have spent the past several months making the case for absorbing Ukraine. Per the head of Ukraine’s defense-intelligence service, Moscow had, as of mid November, placed some 92,000 troops on its border with Ukraine. That’s fewer than the over 100,000 soldiers it moved there during a similar buildup in the spring, but this time, there’s much more military equipment positioned for a potential invasion, and these forces have also taken new positions. Russian troops are thought to be capable of flooding into launching points already equipped with heavy weaponry to begin an assault, all within one or two weeks’ time.