Zelenskyy's 40-day strike campaign fails to sway Putin
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Zelenskyy's 40-day campaign of long-range missile strikes on Russia expired without compelling Putin to negotiate; Moscow eased its fuel crisis and shifted Wildberries logistical hubs to neighbouring Kazakhstan.
- Russia retaliated by shutting Ukraine's Black Sea ports — devastating grain and ore exports — and striking logistics hubs of retailers Epicentr and Rozetka, plus petrol stations and individual petrol trucks.
- Trump's war on Iran diverted Patriot missile supplies from Ukraine, letting nearly every Russian missile reach its targets in recent strikes on Kyiv and other cities.
- Trump also walked back his promise to license domestic Patriot production for Ukraine, while the Senate-passed "draconian sanctions" bill on Russia faces an uncertain House vote.
- Zelenskyy fired Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov — who spearheaded the strike campaign — alongside Deputy PM Taras Kachka, who co-authored an EU-backed 10-point reform plan to limit presidential control over anticorruption probes.
- Ukraine faces its harshest winter since 2022, with officials fearing Russia will target water and sewage systems beyond the energy grid.
Why it matters: Zelenskyy's 40-day gamble failed, and Kyiv now must choose between negotiating on Putin's terms or enduring Russian strikes on water and sewage systems through its harshest winter since 2022, with Patriot supplies diverted to Trump's Iran war. His cabinet purge of the strike campaign's architect removed the last internal holdout blocking a deal with Moscow.
Ask SkimNews
