After the extensive missile attack in Ukraine - revenge for the attack on the Crimea bridge last Saturday, the officials and propagandists in Russia did not try to hide.
"Good news from this morning, the attitude has changed," wrote the Russian governor of Crimea, Sergei Aksionov.
The governor of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, cheered: "Now I am 100% satisfied."
Boris Yakimenko, who founded the pro-Putin "Nashi" movement, celebrated: "It wasn't just that the consultation with Putin was held. We were held for a long time - we travel fast."
And Anton Krasovsky, a publicist on the RT network, went out of his way: "To say I'm happy is to say nothing. I'm in Russian army pajamas and dancing on the balcony."
The atmosphere among the representatives of the Russian regime and its supporters could be understood: yesterday's attack was the largest since the war began.
At least 83 missiles were launched in the first volley in the morning all over Ukraine, including the capital Kyiv.
20 Iranian drones joined them, and the effect, at least in terms of the image they tried to present, was achieved: we promised that hitting the Crimean bridge would be a red line - and we kept it.
An achievement for Putin?
Not sure.
In fact, if this barrage was in the nature of revenge for the Crimean bridge, then it mainly signals a great weakness.
Although it was unprecedented in its scope, since Russia invaded Ukraine, the barrages, in varying doses, have not stopped.
Just yesterday, Russia attacked Zaporizhzhia and killed 17 people inside a residential building.
In yesterday's attack, for comparison, ten were killed.
Nor are the vulnerabilities in the energy infrastructures a novelty, and yesterday some of them were already repaired.
In other words, it was more of the same - just a little more.
Now, considering the status of the Crimean bridge as Putin's holy grail, a project that was supposed to symbolize Russia's eternal connection to Crimea and for the damage of which they promised "Doomsday" - considering all this the reaction seems completely weak.
The chance that it is a lack of will and not an inability is quite slim: after eight years of warnings, Moscow could not settle for less than complying with them.
The military blow to Ukraine was supposed to be victorious.
Through the reaction generated by the explosion on the Crimean bridge, one can assume that the attack was not only intended to harm Putin personally, to prove that the defense system on the bridge is not "perfect", or to sabotage, even partially, a central supply route for the Russian army in southern Ukraine. .
A helicopter participates in the firefighting efforts on the bridge connecting Russia to the occupied Crimea, photo: AFP
how?
To force Russia to respond and assess its strength after the attack on the Holy of Holies, in order to increase unrest within Russia itself (the attack on the bridge provoked criticism of Putin (!) from the nationalists and added fuel to the fire of intrigue between the security bodies in the country, including assessments that the explosion was actually an inside Russian job );
And to take the air out of the nuclear reaction balloon that, to the delight of the Kremlin, began to engage the West even more, and with it, conciliatory voices towards Russia began to be heard again (such as Elon Musk and Donald Trump).
Now, after the indiscriminate attack on dozens of civilian installations, sympathy and aid are again on the rise - and more importantly for Kyiv: judging by the statements in Europe last night, the supply of weapons is also only expected to increase.
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