Russian Hawks Urge Putin to Escalate War as Ukraine Strikes Deep Inside Russia

Hardliners turn on Washington

Prominent Russian nationalists and military bloggers launched a coordinated campaign this week urging President Vladimir Putin to abandon U.S.-mediated negotiations and dramatically escalate the war, according to a Reuters analysis of Russian commentary.reuters The hawks, who command large audiences on Telegram and state television, are furious over what they describe as a broken American promise to broker a settlement on terms favorable to Moscow, and over Ukraine's ability to strike deep inside Russian territory with minimal hindrance.reuters Some have gone so far as to call for the consideration of tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine.united24media

The pressure campaign comes as Ukraine's drone offensive reached new intensity. On June 25 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy authorized a 40-day intermediate and long-range strike campaign, and his forces have since launched some of the war's largest aerial barrages — including a June 18 strike on a Moscow oil refinery that sent thick black smoke across the capital.npr Zelenskyy said Russia has responded by massing hundreds of air-defense launchers around Moscow and redeploying roughly 90 systems to Valdai, a town that hosts one of Putin's residences, leaving other regions more exposed.apnews

Striking 1,200 miles from the front

Ukraine's long-range drone program, built almost entirely on domestic production after U.S. direct aid fell by 99% under the Trump administration, has matured into a precision campaign targeting the energy and logistics infrastructure that sustains the Russian war machine.npr Fire Point drones can fly 800 to 1,200 miles; a secretive Ukrainian unit called the First Separate Center of Unmanned Systems has used them to repeatedly hit oil refineries and depots across Russia, including in Moscow and Siberia.npr Zelenskyy reported that over the past year alone, Ukraine's long-range drones have struck more than 356,000 Russian targets.npr

The cumulative damage is registering inside Russia. The Washington Post reported worsening fuel shortages in Moscow and northern Russia, a sharp decline in the country's stock market, and the Kremlin scrambling to protect key arms-production facilities.washingtonpost Ukraine also struck the Titan-Barrikady ballistic missile development plant in Volgograd with FP-5 Flamingo cruise missiles, while weeks of drone strikes have disrupted water, fuel, and electricity supplies in Russian-occupied Crimea.washingtonpost

Peace talks on ice

U.S.-led negotiations to end the war have stalled, partly consumed by the Iran conflict that has dominated White House attention.npr Putin has rejected an unconditional ceasefire and conditioned any talks on Ukraine accepting the 2022 Istanbul agreements, which Kyiv views as tantamount to surrender.apnews The Kremlin said contacts with Washington on Ukraine would resume only "when U.S. envoys are available."reuters Analysts at the Jamestown Foundation warn that elite divisions inside Russia are deepening, with the hawkish bloc now openly testing whether Putin can be pushed toward broader escalation — or forced, instead, toward a negotiated exit.reuters