Ukraine claimed it destroyed dozens of Russia’s long-distance and nuclear-capable bombers with explosive drones smuggled across the border, although open-source reporting has not confirmed all of Ukraine’s claims.
The stunning military maneuver counters Trump’s narrative that Ukraine is on the brink of defeat, but it “doesn’t change everything,” said Oleksiy Goncharenko, a member of Ukraine’s Parliament in the opposition European Solidarity party.
“I hope maybe after such operation Russians will also realize that they also need a ceasefire. Maybe from this point of view it will help. For the moment, it’s a great operation, but I don’t feel it immediately changes a lot,” he told The Hill.
Volodymyr Dubovyk, professor of international relations at Odesa Mechnikov National University, said that while Ukrainians are worn down from three years of war, they are not prepared to swallow Russia’s conditions for a ceasefire — such as recognizing Russian sovereignty over occupied territories and restrictions on their military.
“Exhaustion in Ukraine is very real,” he said. “But at the same time, people are not having any appetite for capitulation and surrender, because, after all, so much being lost already, so many lives lost — what for? Then to give to Russia what it wanted from the very beginning? That doesn’t make sense for a lot of Ukrainians.”
Trump has neither criticized nor endorsed Ukraine’s cross-border operation, but he said it was discussed during his call Wednesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who he said promised a Russian response to the attacks.
On Tuesday, Ukraine’s internal security service also announced it had carried out a special operation bombing Kerch Bridge, the main artery connecting Russia to the occupied Crimean Peninsula and a Putin pet project.
The symbolism of these attacks has boosted spirits across Ukraine but doesn’t address wider concerns about the future of the war.
There’s also the looming challenge of dwindling U.S. support to Ukraine.
Read the full report at TheHill.com.
