How could they even do that? I don’t mean in a moral outrage sense; I mean as in how would it be physically possible? They tried and failed already, and that was before everything they had was ground down by over four years of war.
It would pointless even if it worked. Ukraine has had four years to plan for evacuation of all key institutions based in Kyiv.
I can see a couple of ways:
- Ukrainians may also be ground down by four years of war and thus unable to stop a serious offensive, I don’t think it’s the case but I may be mistaken.
- Russia mobilizes WWII style and simply swamps the Ukrainian army with enough troops to neutralize the advantages Ukraine had last time.
Putin has to do something because the offensive has completely stalled. And surrender is not an option for him.
There’s some good insight on this from the excellent Anders Puck Nielsen:
A new wave of Russian mobilization has been predicted for years without ever materializing. This time the indicators are more concrete — and once the Duma elections are over in September, Putin has an obvious window to make the decision.
But mobilization is not a straightforward solution for him. It is expensive, and it pulls men out of an economy that is already short of workers. And above all, there is the question of how he intends to use the new soldiers to actually make a difference on the frontline.
Armed with what, and in what vehicles? Putin is already short of everything except bodies. Even more bodies won’t fix that.
This is the breaking-news thread.
You want the ukraine-invasion in Politics & Elections
Moderating:
Institute for the Study of War August 31, 2026
Russia’s second batch of Rassvet satellites appears to have failed to reach intended operational altitudes, marking another setback in Moscow’s efforts to rapidly develop a Russian analogue to Starlink. None of the 16 Rassvet satellites from the second batch launched on July 19 have reached their anticipated altitude of 550 kilometers as of August 31, according to data from live satellite tracker N2YO.[1] Many of these satellites ended up at altitudes between 300 and 400 kilometers, and some are experiencing orbital decay; and at least two satellites are reportedly heading for reentry into Earth’s atmosphere.
Russia is likely rushing to launch Rassvet satellites to compensate for the loss of Starlink connectivity over Ukraine. The February 1 shutdown of Russia’s access to Starlink communications forced Russia to lean into the Rassvet system and likely accelerated Russia’s planned timeline to create a fully operational alternative to Starlink.
Gas crisis in Russia invites out-of-the-box thinking - for some odd definition of thinking.
First known sea drone against sea drone battle. Ukraine for the win.
Ex-CIA boss was at Ukrainian station when Russian drone struck train.
Former US CIA director David Petraeus was at a Ukrainian train station at the very moment a Russian drone struck a passenger train on Sunday, shortly after a diplomatic train carrying former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other foreign dignitaries had passed through. …
The diplomatic train carrying Johnson, European security officials and other former leaders from Kyiv to Poland had made an early departure from Yahodyn station –– about two kilometers (1.2 miles) from the Polish border –– due to the “constant threat of Russian strikes,” said Ukrainian Railways. It had already crossed into Poland by the time of the attack.
Petraeus was traveling on a separate train which was still at Yahodyn station, a Ukrainian Railways statement said.
To be clear, here: Russia tried to target all of the dignitaries. But most of them were on the train before the one Russia targeted, and Petraeus was on the one after it, and so Russia hit a train full of civilians but with no dignitaries on board?
And why on Earth would Russia be targeting dignitaries from other nations, anyway? Do they want the rest of the world to get more involved?
It seems to me like they’re playing the classic children’s game of “I’m not touching you” to see how much they can get away with.
And- why on earth was Boris Johnson there? Hardly a “dignitary”.
More an “indignitary”.
I’m trying to imagine what the UK response would have been had Johnson been killed. He’s a former UK Prime Minister but also he’s…Boris Johnson. Definitely conflicting feelings.
Meanwhile NATO has shot down a Russian drone over Lithuania.
Putin has seized/is in the process of seizing Nestlé facilities in Russia. I wonder what the Swiss are going to think asbout that.
That is a link to the article I read.
Finland and Sweden used to be neutral. Putin’s going for a hat trick.
Man, this new version of Angry Birds is wild…
1000+ drones swarm Moscow. Don’t suppose it’s a coincidence this happened during their state Duma elections.