Desperate Putin planning Hail Mary winter offensive against Ukraine as Russian economy in death spiral, experts say

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is hoping for a Hail Mary winter offensive against Ukraine, experts said — as Russia’s economy is in a death spiral and the war-mongering leader is growing increasingly desperate.After a lackluster spring offensive left Russia losing more territory than it conquered for the first time in three years, the Kremlin is now likely eyeing a large-scale assault come winter to inflict maximum damage on Ukraine, Maria Snegovaya, a senior fellow with the CSIS think tank’s Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program, told the Post.“Putin will wait for the winter again to resume the large-scale strikes and create a humanitarian crisis to get concessions in the Donbas issue,” Snegovaya said, referencing the region Russia has failed to completely conquer for more than four years.The expert warned that the strikes would be even larger than last winter’s, when Russia fired a record number of drones and missiles daily against critical civilian infrastructure.

Russia will also likely expand its attacks further by targeting Ukrainian railways to disrupt supply lines and attacking water infrastructure, added Kateryna Stepanenko, the Russia team lead and deputy director of the Cognitive Warfare Project at the Institute for the Study of War think tank.Snegovaya, who was in Ukraine last month, said the brutal winter was still at the forefront of the minds of the average Ukrainian citizen — with Putin likely wanting to tap into that terror in a desperate attempt to get himself out of his current situation.Putin is facing increased pressure inside Russia over the country’s plummeting economy and internet outages, which experts say could be a prelude to panicked actions by the Kremlin.The Kremlin war machine is also facing rapidly dropping recruitment rates as the war rages on.Moscow’s federal budget deficit grew to $81.4 billion in the first five months of the year — twice as much compared to the same period last year, according to the Russian M...