Dima of the Military Summary Channel reported this morning that following the Ukrainian attack yesterday (apparently civilian targets only) on the Kursk town of Ri’ilske (see my previous post, Escalation and Bad Faith), Putin last night (Moscow time) stated that war has been declared on the Russian world today.
This is not quite the same thing, of course, as saying, in active voice, that “Russia is at war,” or that “Russia declares war” (a difficult formulation, of course, because there is a quite a list of potential enemies that Russia could reasonably declare itself at war against).
Furthermore, it is not the first time that Russia has resorted to the war motif. On March 24, more than two years after invading Ukraine, the Kremlin said that Russia regarded itself to be at “war” due to the West’s intervention and support of its neighbour. Previously, as Al Jazeera noted at the time, the Kremlin had insisted that the attack on Ukraine ordered on February 24, 2022, was only as a “special military operation” to ensure the “demilitarisation and denazification” of Russia’s neighbour. This term implied that the operation had a limited scope, while the use of the broader term “war” was effectively banned.
We are entering a somewhat sleepy period so far as both mainstream and alternative media are concerned, and after almost a day following tthe latest Ri’ilske attack I don’t see much sign of great interest or awareness anywhere else.
I understand there have also been Ukrainian drone attacks on the Russian city of Kazan.
Countries who declare themselves at war, amongst any other considerations, are often if not usually telling their peoples to be prepared for full mobilization and for all necessary measures. We have been warned. I shall try to stay awake!