Putin is now clinging onto power with his onslaught against the people of Ukraine

As winter begins to set in, Putin has accelerated his destruction of Ukraine's infrastructure to cling onto power.

 

As Adrian Zorzut reports,

"Vladimir Putin is losing grip on power and his regime faces total collapse as "predators" circle around due to his disastrous handling of the war in Ukraine, claims a KGB expert.

Yevgenia Albats, who now lives in exile, said Putin can no longer keep at bay competing power groups that want to take over the Kremlin." (The Sun : 4 November 2022) (my emphasis) 

 

 And as reported by Catherine Byaruhanga, Kyla Herrmannsen, and Alex Binley,

"In recent weeks millions of Ukrainians have intermittently been left without electricity and water, as Russian air strikes target vital infrastructure.

Rolling power cuts are also in place to avoid overloads and to allow for repairs.

Some 40% of Ukraine's energy system has been damaged or destroyed by Russian attacks on power plants and lines." (BBC News : 6 November 2022) (my emphasis)

Kyiv's mayor, Vitali Klitschko, has warned that,

"Kyiv residents should be prepared to leave the city if there is a total loss of power, its mayor has said." (ibid Catherine Byaruhanga et al)

 

David Propper : New York Post : 6 November 2022

 

More disconcerting, Reuters reports that,

"Ukraine's Russian-held Nova Kakhovka dam (left) was damaged in shelling by Ukrainian forces, Russian news agencies reported on Sunday, citing emergency services.
.....
The reports provided no evidence to support the allegation, which could not be immediately verified by Reuters." (Reuters : 6 November 2022) (my emphasis)

 

 Assed Baig : Aljazeera : 7 November 2022

In a similar vein of  pure "Russian allegations", Shweta Sharma (right) reports that,

"Pakistan has denounced statements from a Russian senator

that accused Islamabad of helping Ukraine develop nuclear bombs, calling them illogical.

Pakistan’s ministry of foreign affairs said on Tuesday that the statements were baseless and sought an explanation from its Russian counterpart." (Independent : 3 November 2022) (my emphasis)

It is rather interesting, as reported by Mint, that,

"In a first clear message to Russia, China President Xi Jinping (left) warned against nuclear weapons over Ukraine. Xi warned Russia during a meeting with German chancellor Olaf Scholz in Beijing." (Mint : 6 November 2022) (my emphasis) (cf. also: Andreas Rinke and Eduardo Baptista : Reuters : 4 November 2022)

As in the case of  the constant mantra of Putin, his 'siloviki', and his Kremlin clique, that Ukraine is developing a 'dirty nuclear bomb', are Russian News Agencies setting the scene for a Russian 'false flag' operation on the Nova Kakhovka dam?

Further underlining the dangerous nature of Putin's 'desperate and false allegations' are the recent  Russian allegations against the UK.

As Samuel Osborne (right) reported,

"Russia's ambassador to the UK has claimed Britain played a role in an attack on its warships - warning the country is "too deep" in the Ukraine war.

In an interview with Sky's Mark Austin, top diplomat Andrei Kelin claimed he had proof that UK special forces were involved in a Ukrainian drone assault on Russia's Black Sea fleet in Crimea and had handed 'evidence' to the British ambassador.

Asked to provide evidence of Russia's claims, Mr Kelin said: "We perfectly know about [the] participation of British specialists in [the] training, preparation and execution of violence against the Russian infrastructure and the Russian fleet in the Black Sea. We know that it has been done." (Sky News : 3 November 2022) (my emphasis)

So far no proof of direct British involvement in Ukraine's drone assault on the Russian Black Sea Fleet has been made public by either Andrei Kelin or the Kremlin.

 Sky News : 3 November 2022

 

As also recently reported by Guy Faulconbridge and Sachin Ravikumar,

" Russia's defence ministry said on Saturday that British navy personnel blew up the Nord Stream gas pipelines last month, a claim that London said was false and designed to distract from Russian military failures in Ukraine.

Russia did not give evidence for its claim that a leading NATO member had sabotaged critical Russian infrastructure amid the worst crisis in relations between the West and Russia since the depths of the Cold War." (Reuters : 29 October 2022) (my emphasis)

 

 

Asia Radar : 3 November 2022 : YouTube

 

As Tara Fair, Charles Harrison, and Astha Saxena, report,

"Vladimir Putin has launched an extraordinary threat against the UK after bizarrely accusing it of being involved in a humiliating Russian defeat in the Black Sea.
...
...the Russian Foreign Ministry said: “The demarche stressed that such confrontational actions by the British threatened to escalate the situation and could lead to unpredictable and dangerous consequences." (Express : 4 November 2022) (my emphasis)

 

This threat against a leading NATO member could, indeed, lead to unpredictable and dangerous consequences.

 

Which illustrates just how desperate Putin must be in view of the ongoing and catastrophic defeats he is suffering at the hands of Ukraine.

 

In a recent Newsnight interview, Mikhail Khodorkovsky stated that,

 

"Putin will loose power only if he is defeated militarily.... If we are looking to somebody who could hold power after Putin then we would have to look to the Russian regions ..." (Newsnight : 1 November 2022) (my emphasis)

 

Putin is now clinging onto power with his onslaught against the people of Ukraine.

 

(to be continued)