Putin’s strategy for Ukraine: Push the bayonet

KYIV — Traveling to Ukraine has felt different this year, more tense even than in the months after the 2022 full-scale invasion. A new sense of anxiety was palpable before I entered the country. My flight landed in Lublin, the closest major Polish airport to the Ukrainian border. But I couldn’t get off the plane; the airport had been temporarily shut down. Overnight, a swarm of Russian drones had entered Polish airspace, and the country was on high alert. In this atmosphere, a set of unattended bags at Lublin Airport understandably triggered an emergency search.

The dominant facts of life in Ukraine are now Russian drone attacks and, therefore, air raid warnings. For the first time, I downloaded an app to notify me of potential attacks. Most come after dark, and locals complain about nights of constant interruptions, sleeplessness and trips to shelters. Many have turned off their phone alerts, banking on Ukraine’s air defense system to continue intercepting most incoming projectiles. But the Russians are getting better, and some do get through, as happened last weekend when an Iskander cruise missile hit the main government building in the heart of Kyiv that houses the offices of many cabinet ministers.

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