I don't think it escalates to this point, what would likely to happen is there would be a collective shunning by the world and aid to Ukraine would probably dry up. I don't think NATO would even want to be part of it and probably distance themselves from Ukraine.
It would be the equivalent of Russia sending Iskanders or Oreshniks to wipe out western delegations while they are in Kyiv. They have the ability and they know when these people come, can you imagine if they strike Macron or some other leader while they visit Ukraine? Neither India, China would come to Russia's defense and probably just condemn and distance themselves.
Russia has a functional chain of command with their iskanders and oreshniks. Ballistic missiles aren't getting let loose without the Kremlin's go-ahead. For years now we've been maintaining a strategic ambiguity about how much independence Ukrainian forces have with the long range weapons we've been supplying them. We don't want to admit if US special forces have been launching drones at Moscow.
How much control do we really have? As Ukrainians grow more desperate and we are giving weapons to a fatalist nazi movement, a celebration of crushing the nazis held by all their sworn enemies in this war is an extremely juicy target. Extremist groups at the edge of being wiped out in combat aren't making calculations about PR goodwill and the west's desire for stability. World war 1 was started by serbian nationalists, here we've got actual nazis.
They know where and when Putin will be standing with Xi Jinping and a host of other world leaders aligned against them, in open air. In a city they've already struck with weapons we gave them, supposedly launched by Ukrainians acting independently from us. So how tight of a leash do we have? How stable is the Ukrainian chain of command? I mean, we've already had power struggles, top brass fired, entire regiments refusing orders and now they're on the edge of defeat. And even publicly Zelensky isn't yet giving the order to accept the ceasefire next week
Every predictive condition is primed and in place. We've put the gun in the madman's hand and whispered poison in his ear. Hopefully nothing will happen and Vday will stay Vday
This post was edited by Goomshill on Apr 29 2025 01:35pm