Desperate Putin is reportedly plotting a terrifying all-out gamble to crush Ukraine, lining up a 300,000-troop “hammer blow” towards Kyiv while ramping up Nato sabotage
Russia President Vladimir Putin is reportedly plotting a terrifying final gambit to crush Ukraine as the tyrant ramps up threats towards the UK.
As tensions between Moscow and Europe reach boiling point, Putin is reportedly preparing to unleash a 300,000-troop “hammer blow” and crank up sabotage attacks on Nato, while issuing direct military threats aimed at Britain. The escalation comes after a diplomatic clash over British weapons technology being used inside Ukraine.
This comes after UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced the UK would give Ukraine declassified blueprints allowing Kyiv to manufacture and improve long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles at home. As a result, Putin’s mouthpiece Dmitry Peskov reportedly blasted Britain for “adding fuel to the fire”.
Burnham hit back: “Who started the fire? That’s the question, isn’t it?”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office Pavlo Palisa have warned Russia is actively drawing up military options to significantly expand its forces. Moreover, intelligence reportedly indicated a renewed ground push could target Kyiv and Chernihiv in the north.
Western and Ukrainian assessments say Russian military officers have already begun quietly testing and rehearsing emergency mobilisation and call-up procedures in heavily militarised regional exclaves, including Kaliningrad, Hamer Intel reported. The strategic goal, observers believe, is to rapidly shore up battered front lines after months of grinding attrition – and overwhelm Ukraine before the war’s third winter bites.
Russia expert Mark Galeotti told the Sun that a new conscription would be “a hammer blow of extra forces” to rejuvenate Moscow’s barbaric invasion efforts. He warned the Kremlin’s menacing messaging is designed to sound “scary but ambiguous”, adding that shadow warfare is “a really cost-effective way of disrupting our lives”.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova warned British military facilities and equipment “in Ukraine and beyond its borders” could become legitimate targets. Kremlin adviser Andrei Fedorov went further, suggesting drone and missile component factories inside Britain could face attacks from “unknown sources”.
International security expert Elisabeth Braw told the Sun: “We’re likely to see more attacks on logistics hubs… but also other airports and railways.” She said Putin has “no reservations about targeting civilian installations”.
She added: “Russia is willing to take such casualty risks.” Russian military expert Keir Giles further told the Sun: “We should be watching for the expansion of Russia’s electronic warfare, what’s usually referred to as GPS jamming.”
Such sabotage on European GPS signals would be “enormous” and “would cause instant massive disruption and chaos”, adding it was “a bit of a surprise we haven’t seen Russia testing that yet”.
Giles said Putin is plotting riskier gambles to push the boundaries of shadow warfare, and some operations have already been “indistinguishable from warlike acts”.
Putin is also reportedly intensifying an “air hammer” campaign aimed at Ukraine’s energy and economy. After Ukrainian long-range drone strikes on Russian oil infrastructure and logistics centres, including Wildberries-linked sites, Putin claimed Ukraine had opened a “Pandora’s box” and vowed to hit Kyiv’s “most sensitive economic sectors”.
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.