Russia's response to the destruction of its strategic bombers has not yet come: “It will be huge, violent and ruthless” / which can be the main target
Vladimir Putin visited a Center for the Russian military aviation in Tver. Photo: Mikhail Metzel / AFP / Profimedia
The United States believes that the threat of Russian President Vladimir Putin to respond against Ukraine for last weekend drone attack has not yet materialized and that it is likely to be a significant and complex attack, American officials for Reuters said.
The moment when Russia's full response will come is not very clear, a source of the International Press Agency saying that it is expected in a few days. A second American official said Riposta will probably include different types of air capabilities, including rockets and drones.
Russia's full response has not yet come
The officials spoke under the condition of anonymity and did not give details about the targets that Russia will take into account and did not give details about what the intelligence services know.
The first official said that Moscow's attack will be “asymmetrical”, which means that its approach and targets will not reflect the attack of Ukraine last Sunday against Russian war planes.
On Friday, Russia launched an intense wave of rockets and drones on the Ukrainian capital Kiev, and the Russian Ministry of Defense said that the attack on military and army targets was a reaction to what called Ukraine against Russia. But US officials believe that Russia has not yet come.
“It will be huge, violent and ruthless”
A Western diplomatic source said that although Russia's response would have started, it would probably intensify with attacks against symbol targets in Ukraine, such as government buildings, in an effort to send a clear message to Kiev.
Another high -ranking Western diplomat anticipated a new devastating attack from Moscow. “It will be huge, violent and ruthless,” said the diplomat. “But the Ukrainians are a brave people,” he added.
The embassies of Russia and Ukraine in Washington and the White House did not immediately respond to Reuters statements.
The main target can be the SBU headquarters
Michael Kofman, an expert in Russia at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said that Moscow is expected to try to punish the Internal Security Agency, SBU, for its role in the last weekend attack.
To send a message, Russia could use medium -range ballistic missiles for attack, he said.
“Most likely, they will try to respond against the headquarters (SBU) or other regional buildings of the Intelligence Administration,” Kofman said, adding that Russia could also target the Ukrainian military production centers.
However, Kofman has suggested that Russia's repayments could be limited, because it already uses much of its military power against Ukraine.
“In general, Russia's ability to substantially intensify the attacks on what it is already doing – and has tried to do the last month – it is quite limited,” he said.
The “Spider canvas” operation
Kiev states that the bold Sunday attack involved 117 unanswered air vehicles launched from the depths of the Russian territory, in an operation with the code name “spider's cloth”.
The United States estimates that up to 20 war aircraft were hit – about half of the Estimated Balance of Volodimir Zelenski – and that about 10 were destroyed. A German general said on Saturday that the attack neutralized about 10% of the Russian Strategic Bombardiei TU-95 and TU-22 fleet.
The Russian government denied that aircraft would have been destroyed and said that damage would be repaired, but Russian military bloggers talked about the loss or serious damage of approximately twelve planes, including some capable of transporting nuclear weapons.
The attacks, prepared for 18 months and made with drones transported with trucks near the bases, represented a strong symbolic blow to Russia, which, throughout the war in Ukraine, frequently reminded the world by its nuclear power.
Trump, after speaking with a little: probably “will not be pleasant”
Putin told Donald Trump in a telephone conversation on Wednesday that Moscow will have to respond to the attack, the US president wrote in a post on social networks.
Trump later told reporters that he “probably won't be a pleasant one.”
“I don't like it. I said,” Don't do it. You shouldn't do it. You should stop, “Trump said about his conversation with Putin, adding that” there is a lot of hatred. “
The Russian army will decide “when and how” it will respond to Ukrainian drones on Sunday on several Russian aerodromes, Dmitri Peskov said on Thursday.
