Key Points – Following Ukraine’s “Operation Spiderweb” drone strike, which humiliated Moscow by destroying numerous strategic bombers, Russian hardliners are reportedly furious and pressuring Vladimir Putin to declare a formal war on Ukraine.
-This move, they argue, would permit full-scale mobilization and even more devastating strikes.
-However, Putin has so far resisted these calls for revenge on Ukraine.
-He continues to frame the conflict as a “special military operation,” likely fearing that a formal war declaration and mass mobilization would shatter the illusion of stability at home and acknowledge that his initial strategy has failed.
-Despite the hardliners’ demands for vengeance, Putin’s response has been limited to conventional retaliatory strikes.
Russian Hardliners Slam Putin Over Ukrainian Drone Success
Ukraine’s drone assault deep into Russian territory is reportedly prompting division in the Kremlin.
The now infamous Operation Spider Web, delivered damaging blows to some 20 Russian nuclear-capable bombers, sending shockwaves across the world.
Furious hardliners close to Russia’s security apparatus have renewed calls for a formal declaration of war against Ukraine — a move they claim would unleash full-scale mobilisation, daily missile strikes on Kyiv, and perhaps even tactical nuclear options.
Hardliners Want Revenge on Ukraine
“To every thinking patriot, it was a personal tragedy,” one senior Russian official told The Telegraph, demanding vengeance for what he portrayed as a national humiliation.
Yet the Kremlin’s actual response has been notably restrained. Despite intensifying drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian cities like Kharkiv and Kyiv, analysts note the reprisals fell far short of the apocalyptic retaliation nationalists had envisioned.
“This didn’t catalyse a political shift,” one former Kremlin insider told Defense One magazine. “In the Russian system, where preserving the status quo is everything, that tells you a lot.”
Could Russia Officially Declare War?
The idea of a formal war declaration remains deeply controversial inside Russia. While nationalist influencers and military bloggers demand escalation, Putin has been careful to preserve the fiction of a “special military operation.” Doing otherwise risks shattering the illusion of control, especially among ordinary Russians who have been largely shielded from the war’s cost, both in blood and rubles.
Declaring war would force the Kremlin to mobilise millions of reservists, admit the current strategy has failed, and expose the Russian economy to even more strain. According to experts, Putin’s inner circle sees this as a greater threat to the regime’s stability than any drone attack.
“There’s no upside to calling it a war,” said Mark Galeotti, a leading expert on Russian security. “As soon as you do, parents across the country start fearing their sons will be sent to the front.”
Moscow’s Stretched Resources in Ukraine War
There is also the question of capacity for all the noise from hardline quarters.
Russia’s military is already overstretched. Despite its nuclear arsenal and a bloated defence budget, the Kremlin lacks the manpower and precision munitions to wage the kind of daily total war its most radical voices demand.
Putin likely feels he must maintain the image of strength abroad, but also the appearance of stability at home. Operation Spider Web shattered part of that illusion. What remains to be seen is how long the rest can hold.
About the Author:
Georgia Gilholy is a journalist based in the United Kingdom who has been published in Newsweek, The Times of Israel, and the Spectator. Gilholy writes about international politics, culture, and education.
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doyle-1
June 19, 2025 at 4:12 pm
Putin is a total nitwit and therefore must be held to a full account for the massive russian losses in the conflict against the ukro nazist forces.
In feb 2022, putin should have had tasked russian intelligence to monitor zelenskyy’s whereabouts and his contacts with the homophilic brits and other extreme russophobes.
Then tracking him on his journey home, putin should have hurled a RS-12M2 right onto the top of zelenskyy’s head.
That’s exactly What netanyahu is doing now against iran’s top leadership.
That would have prevented the conflict stretching to today.
Probably russia didn’t attempt to decapitate the ukrainian leadership was simply because russia is currently severely short of missiles and rockets.
Shows that putin hasn’t done his homework. He failed to see How rockets and missiles are so very important today, more important than even bombs and drones.
During the famous battle of teutoburg forest, the local tribes blanketed the seasoned roman legions with a rain of javelins thereby obtaining a very famous victory.
Obviously, putin has never heard of teutoburg. Neither have his pot-bellied generals.
But surely they must have heard of the fourth battle of kharkov in aug 1943.
In that battle, the red army was at last able to kick the german’s fat ass out of kharkov for the final time due to highly adequate and totally ample supply of rocket launchers.
The german panzer and wehrmacht units were literally blasted out of their foxholes and everybody fled westward despite hitler’s strict orders to stand firm.
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