With intelligence support from the United States and the United Kingdom, the Ukrainian army launched an unmanned ship attack on the Crimean bridge on July 17, and although the railway bridge was not damaged, the road bridge was severely damaged (it is not expected to be repaired until September 15).
That night, the Ukrainian army sent another 28 drones to bomb the Crimean peninsula.
In response, Putin said that Russia must respond to the terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge, and the military is making preparations.
Since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Russia has repeatedly warned that it will face a strong response from Russia if it attacks Crimea.
However, as the conflict continues, Russia's warnings are becoming less and less effective, and Ukraine and the Western countries behind it dare to take action against Crimea, and in October last year, the Security Service of Ukraine carried out the first attack on the Crimean bridge, and since this year, Ukraine has launched more than 70 drone attacks on Crimea.
No matter what Russia says now, it does not have much meaning and effect.
War has its own laws, especially large-scale wars related to the fate of the country, once started, many things will go beyond the control of the leaders of the two countries, and the originally designed retreat route is likely to be blocked.
Whether they want it or not, both sides can only fight until neither side can fight or one side defeats and kills the other, admits defeat and signs a surrender or similar document, and it seems easy but actually difficult to end it.
In the current Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Russia wants to end the so-called special military operation, but Ukraine does not agree (to be precise, the United States does not agree), so what should the Ukrainian army do if it continues to attack Donetsk, Zaporozhye and other four regions in eastern Ukraine and Crimea? Will the Russian army resist or retreat?
Retreat means the defeat of Russia, it means the defeat of Putin, and this is an unacceptable result for Putin. If they do not retreat, they will continue to stalemate and be forced to fight, and the two sides will continue to fight.
Do you also have to know that even if Russia makes big concessions, withdraws from the four eastern regions of Ukraine, or even gives up Crimea, will the Ukrainian army stop at the original Russian-Ukrainian border? I don't think so.
The United States will definitely take advantage of the fire to loot and crack down on the reservoir dogs, and will make Ukraine demand huge war reparations from Russia and demand punishment and trial of "war criminals" designated by the West.
Accepting it means that Russia will completely admit defeat, completely lose the dignity of a great power, and if it does not accept it, it will only be forced to fight.
In short, Russia may have lost the right to speak on how to end this conflict, and whether to cease the war depends on the face of the United States, and the United States will definitely use this Russia-Ukraine conflict to weaken Russia's comprehensive national strength as much as possible.
The Russian-Ukrainian war is likely to end only when one side has no ability to war, that is, to distinguish the winner and loser. Russia has no way out, it can only win, not lose, and if Russia ends this conflict as a loser, Russia's future will be tragic, and Putin's future will end in tragedy.