Putin’s Strategy Has Shifted; So Too Has Ours — Ned Price

Washignton on Monday reinstated its intention to provide Ukraine with "precisely what they need to take on the battle where it is being waged right now," as the State Department's spokesperson Ned Price put it, TURAN's U.S. correspondent reports.

"President Putin’s strategy has shifted; so too has ours," Price told a daily press briefing in response to TURAN's questions.

His comments came as Russian forces launched a barrage of drone strikes across Ukraine early on Monday, damaging critical infrastructure and knocking out power. Ukrainian Air Force officials said they shot down 20 of 35 drones that Russia launched toward Kyiv.

Asked by TURAN about Putin's war strategy in light of the latest attacks, Price said, Putin’s strategy "has failed and shifted".

He went on to explain, "President Putin prior to February 24th thought that he could deploy his forces, send them into Kyiv, and within six hours or at most six days essentially be in control of the country, be the de facto leader of Ukraine, attempting to topple the government in Kyiv, attempting to subdue the people of Ukraine. Of course, we are now nine, ten months on from that, and it is patently clear that President Putin’s aims have failed and so his strategy has shifted. His strategy has now become one of acute brutality."

Putin's current strategy, as Price described it, is to "seek to weaponize winter – going after infrastructure, going after what the people of Ukraine need to survive during the cold winter, attempting to deprive them of heat, of water, of electricity, of basic services."

"But just as President Putin has taken his battle to the cities of Ukraine, to civilian infrastructure targets, we are providing our Ukrainian partner with what they need to defend those targets with a heavy emphasis on air defense systems," he added.

From the earliest days of the war, Washington has provided Stingers and other air defense systems. In recent months, it has also provided "more sophisticated and capable systems," capable of protecting energy infrastructure and the targets that Moscow is pursuing, including the NASAMS, Price reminded.

As for Iran’s provision of UAVs to Russia, the spokesperson said that those drones are being used to deadly and lethal effect. "Even when they are not lethal – when they may not be lethal in the first instance through the attack, their intent is to inflict suffering and ultimately death by depriving the Ukrainian people of heat, of water, of electricity during the winter."

Ukraine has been effective in taking on a good number of  Iranian drones in the course of any particular onslaught. But the fact that a single drone is able to evade air defense systems and inflict such damage and brutality to us is just a reminder of the stakes, Price said. "It’s a reminder of these barbaric tactics that President Putin and his enablers, including his enablers in Tehran, are assisting."

Right now, the battle is raging in the south, in the east, in the north. Asked whether Iranian drones and trainers in Dombas and Crimes must be considered legitimate targets for Kyiv, Price said, Ukraine "has a right to defend its territory, and any target on sovereign Ukraine territory is, by definition, self-defense."

Price also commented on Putin’s latest statement in Belarus saying Russia "does not want to absorb" anyone.  Those statements should be treated as the “height of irony” given that he is currently seeking to absorb Ukraine, the spokesperson said.

Washington, he added, would continue to watch very closely whether Belarus would provide additional support to Putin in Russia’s war in Ukraine and would respond “appropriately” to impose additional measures to hold the Lukashenka regime accountable, if it does.

Alex Raufoglu

Washington D.C.