Your Evening Briefing: Russia May Risk a Repeat of Its Kyiv Failure
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Workers wearing protective gear exhume bodies on April 13 at a site where Ukrainian civilians, killed during Russian occupation, where buried on the grounds of the Church of Saint Andrew. A visit by the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor to Bucha, the Kyiv suburb now synonymous with scores of atrocities against civilians, came as Vladimir Putin’s war shifts eastward.
Photographer: Fadel Senna/AFP
French President Emmanuel Macron has become the latest leader to warn that a major Russian assault on eastern Ukraine is imminent. If that’s indeed the plan, the Kremlin risks repeating at least some of the mistakes of the past seven weeks. If Russia throws units into the fight at the height of Ukraine’s spring mud season, when the ground is too soft and wet for trucks and mobile artillery to move off-road without getting stuck, it may leave convoys stranded and vulnerable to the kinds of attacks that killed thousands of Russians during Vladimir Putin’s failed attempt to take Kyiv.
While the eastern port city of Mariupol has been under siege for weeks and is at risk of falling completely under Russian control within days, Putin suffered a significant loss with news that his Black Sea flagship, the Moskva, sank following what may have been the first battle use of Ukraine’s Neptune missile. If true, any efforts by Russia to attempt amphibious landings may have to be reconsidered.