They can’t show they are being destroyed by a lesser power so they engage a bigger enemy, make it so their embarassment was all a calculated NATO escalation.
No, this is not the case.
While it is true that Putin faces overthrow if he loses to Ukraine, losing to NATO does not help in there in the slightest. Russian leaders have to be strong, and it doesn’t matter to whom they lose - they lost.
“You send a message that you are capable of penetrating a Western airport and Western Europe, and potentially it might be extremely damaging, but you stop short of causing any real damage. That would serve the purpose, because the purpose we have seen since 2022 in Russian sabotage operations was always to raise the costs of supplying support to Ukraine and raising the costs of protecting critical infrastructure.”- Andrei Soldatov, an exiled Russian journalist who specialises in covering the security services.
No, this is not the case.
While it is true that Putin faces overthrow if he loses to Ukraine, losing to NATO does not help in there in the slightest. Russian leaders have to be strong, and it doesn’t matter to whom they lose - they lost.
They wouldn’t lose to NATO they stop aggression if NATO stoppedsupport for Ukraine.
Involving NATO makes it seem like two superpowers at odds, not getting bent over.
I think I’ll trust experts on the subject, who say this is not the case, over you. But thanks.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/08/17/us-cia-putin-russia-nato-attack-ukraine-syria-baltic-uk/
“You send a message that you are capable of penetrating a Western airport and Western Europe, and potentially it might be extremely damaging, but you stop short of causing any real damage. That would serve the purpose, because the purpose we have seen since 2022 in Russian sabotage operations was always to raise the costs of supplying support to Ukraine and raising the costs of protecting critical infrastructure.”- Andrei Soldatov, an exiled Russian journalist who specialises in covering the security services.
The attacks appear carefully calculated to fall just short of triggering Article 5, Nato’s mutual defence clause, intelligence officials believe. - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/08/23/russia-targets-weapons-factories-in-new-campaign/
Your arrogance is unreal for someone who contributed about as much as a stereotype to the discussion while calling me wrong.
https://understandingwar.org/research/russia-ukraine/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-august-27-2026/
https://understandingwar.org/research/russia-ukraine/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-september-1-2026/