"Has Putin now become Xi Jinping's poodle"

Putin's latest onslaught against the people of Ukraine has all the hallmarks of a man desperate to cling onto power.

As reported by Hanna Arhirova and Elena Becatoros,

"Russia unleashed a missile barrage targeting energy infrastructure across Ukraine early Thursday, hitting residential buildings and killing at least five people in the largest such attack in three weeks, officials said." (AP News : 9 March 2023) (my emphasis)

Significantly, as reported earlier by Aoife Walsh,

"The head of Russia's Wagner private army says it is not getting the ammunition it needs from Moscow, as it seeks to gain control of Bakhmut.
...
But Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin (right) says his army's lack of ammunition could be "ordinary bureaucracy or a betrayal". (BBC News : 7 March 2023) (my emphasis)

Furthermore, as also reported earlier,

• Russia's "total collapse" is not beyond realms of possibility, a military expert has claimed, as Ukraine continues to fight valiantly in the east of the country. Colonel Richard Kemp, a former infantry commander, has explained how taking back the Crimean Peninsula could be key to inflicting defeat on the Russians. (Charlie Bradley : Express : 2 March 2023) (my emphasis)
• The Russian military has lost many of its best-trained and most-skilled soldiers in Ukraine, where casualties continue to mount after more than a year of fighting, and it is having a crippling effect on the combat power of Moscow's forces.
  
  Multiple units long considered to be "elite" forces within the Russian military have suffered serious losses during the conflict as these forces are continually recommitted to the fight, often to carry out tasks inconsistent with their purpose." (Jake Epstein  : Business Insider : 3 March 2023) (my emphasis)
• Even more significantly, as reported by  Charlie Bradley and Christopher Sharp,
  
  "Russian military officers are reportedly refusing to launch a new attack on the Ukrainian town of Vugledar after suffering heavy losses in a tank battle. It has been claimed that Russia lost around 130 tanks and armoured fighting vehicles in a recent offensive to take the town, located in the Donetsk oblast." (8 March 2023) (my emphasis)

And on the International Front, Putin isn't faring much better.

As reported by Brendan Cole (left),

"A clip of veteran Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov sparking laughter after claiming Ukraine was to blame for Vladimir Putin's invasion has gone viral.
...

"The war which we are trying to stop and which was launched against
us," Lavrov said, before laughter rang out among the audience. Lavrov [that dyed-in-the-wool Soviet Foreign Minister] paused briefly and look flustered as he tried to continue. He finished the sentence that it "influenced Russian policy" taking three attempts to say the word "influence" amid the cackles and an audience member shouting "come on." " (Newsweek :4 March 2023) (my emphasis)

Becky Anderson CNN : 4 March 2023 : YouTube

Putin's latest "doodlebug" onslaught against Ukraine's cities may also be due to the fact that, as reported by Josh Smith and Joyce Lee,

"South Korea's government approved export licenses for Poland last year to provide Ukraine with Krab howitzers, which are built with South Korean components, a defence acquisition official in Seoul told Reuters on Wednesday.

The comments are the first confirmation that South Korea officially acquiesced to at least indirectly providing weapons components to Ukraine for its war against Russia." (MSN (Reuters) : 8 March 2023 (my emphasis)

No doubt Chinese President Xi Jinping is carefully studying this development, with a keen eye on "copying Putin's Ukraine invasion" by invading Taiwan.

As reported by Gideon Rachman (left),

"Xi Jinping has called Vladimir Putin his best friend. But now the Russian leader is in urgent need of help from China. Putin’s army is bogged down in Ukraine and running short of ammunition.

Should Xi prove that he is a friend indeed by supplying Russia with weapons? China’s decision will say a lot about how it sees the future of the world.

A choice to supply Russia with weapons would suggest that China believes that intensified rivalry with the US is unavoidable — and perhaps desirable. By contrast, a decision not to give Russia weapons would indicate that China still believes that tensions with the US are manageable and that globalisation can be saved." (Financial Times : 6 March 2023) (my emphasis)

Which rather raises the question, "Has Putin now become Xi Jinping's poodle"

(to be continued)