Putin’s Vile Chess

Russian President Vladimir Putin has “played” the Game of Kings, or chess, against Ukraine and the West for years, but badly. But his attempt to conquer Ukraine has been disastrous. Putin misread the board, opened in 2022 with a “blitzkrieg gambit,” expecting Kyiv to fall quickly, then overextended his “pieces” and lost the initiative.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. He underestimated his opponent – notably Ukrainian courage, resilience, and technological innovation – and miscalculated Western cohesion. He then shifted into a horrific war of attrition, sacrificing 1.5 million men, spending $770 million a day, and squandering $680 billion since 2022, in return for minuscule territorial gains. Now, Putin has decided to conduct saturation bombing attacks on Ukrainian women and children in Kyiv and other cities to bring the country to its knees. This is another blunder, like a “poisoned-pawn” mistake in chess, when a player gobbles up easily captured pieces but totally undermines his position and costs himself the game. Russia’s war against Ukraine is fought on two chessboards. One involves missiles, drones, soldiers, and oil refineries. The other is a diplomatic chessboard involving Putin, US President Donald Trump, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, and Europe. Putin has started to pound Ukrainian civilians, power, transport, and water facilities before winter to create a humanitarian disaster that will spill over into Europe. But his brutality backfires and upsets Americans and Europeans. It also exposes the stupidity of pursuing peace deals with Putin or falling for anything he says, including his thinly disguised “bribery” attempt to sell a Russian oil company to a group of Trump’s friends. It’s blood money. It’s also insulting. Other Topics of Interest Russian Ballistic Strike on Kyiv Injures 6 in Restaurant Rescuers fought a restaurant blaze where one victim was critically hurt as Zelensky linked the ballistic strikes to oil sanctions relief. In return for killing innocents intentionally, Russia should be booted from the UN and Trump must disinvite Putin from attending the G20 conference in December, then unleash the sledgehammer sanctions just given to him by Congress. Fortunately, Kyiv and Ukrainians are tough. Blowing up and burning data centers provide striking visuals on Russian television, but Kyiv’s internet system, battle-tested for ages, is too decentralized to be shut down easily. The same is true when it comes to keeping the power on. Ukrainians have learned to be good at repairing and replacing everything since the war started in 2022, and they are also psychologically resolute. Life in the capital continues. Concerts, fashion shows, baby showers happen as drones attack constantly. Schools operate in subways. Parliament now meets underground because of bombing attacks. Says a close friend of mine in Kyiv: “There are long lineups at banks, grocery stores, and everything takes ten times longer to do. My friend’s due date is in two weeks, and she’s busy planning for her new baby, but buying formula and diapers is more difficult. But she’ll find a way. If the only choice is to give up to Russia, I don’t choose it, nor does anyone else. We stock up on what we need and use the shelters. It will get worse, and everyone’s preparing. We understand. It will be fine. I will be fine.” In recent days, Zelensky issued an “SOS” to Ukrainians, confirming that Putin will ruthlessly escalate this autumn: “We know from intelligence and some people around Putin that at the beginning of September Putin said, ‘No rules now.’ The Russians couldn’t occupy us. So now they are doing massive attacks and massive killings. And of course, they want to go after our bridges and, from what we understand, after our data centers, internet, cell network, hospitals, kindergartens, schools, universities - everything. They want people to run away from their cities, and we need to do everything to save our people and cities.” Meanwhile, Ukraine’s deep strikes have wrecked 51% of Russia’s oil refining capacity, dramatically reducing the cash flow it needs to wage war. And the more war crimes Putin commits, the more pushbacks. After Putin’s latest threat against civilians, Germany immediately announced another €1 billion ($1.12 billion) in military assistance, including long-range weapons, drones and satellite capabilities, and that German and Ukrainian companies are deepening defense-industrial cooperation. Then on Oct. 4, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz even flew into Kyiv during a bombing attack to show support for Ukraine. “I traveled to Kyiv today because Ukraine needs all our support in the coming weeks. If Russia is not stopped, sooner or later its war machine will turn against us. And I will tell President Zelensky today: ‘You can continue to count on our help,’” Merz said. Meanwhile, midterms approach in the US on Nov. 5, and Trump’s questionable, tepid, and foolish respect for Putin will do him in because the American public is simply not buying it, any more than they agree that his Iran war is a good idea. His popularity is at an all-time low due to corrupt practices, economic pain, and the Iran war. Russia is considered a scourge, not a potential G20 ally. A major survey this week by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs found that 86% of Americans blame Putin for the conflict. A YouGov poll found that 61% of Americans believe Russia started the war and only 6% blame Ukraine. Some 74% of Americans believe Putin’s invasion was unjustified and support weapons for Ukraine and lethal economic sanctions against Russia. And last month, Congress overwhelmingly approved a sledgehammer sanctions bill that Trump signed. In response, Putin snubbed this “leverage” by launching a bombing holocaust against civilians. Trump cannot ignore this. Putin’s declaration that he will be murdering women and children, and destroying cities, is his “poison pawn” that undermines any credibility he may have had. Peace talks are pointless; only more weapons and sanctions are needed. Obviously, Putin has never wanted peace and has been stringing Trump along. His threat to women and children in Ukraine is sufficient justification for Trump to use his sledgehammer sanctions, which are capable of strangling Russia’s cash flow and stopping his war. Trump must also remove all restrictions on Ukraine’s use of ATACMS, provide Patriots, and help fund Ukrainian defense production. Then Europe must release to Ukraine the $200 billion in frozen Russian central bank assets it holds in order to help it pay for weapons, defense, and repairs. Putin must be defeated. Checkmate. He is not civilized, nor is his regime. He never wanted peace; he will never leave Ukraine alone; he wants Europe; he spreads war globally, and when it’s over, the West must provide Ukraine with arms and credible security guarantees backed by troops. Putin hides with his family and cohorts in bunkers, as did Hitler in the end, and issues a declaration to slaughter innocents, which has gone too far. He has defeated himself and ended up in “zugzwang”, a situation in chess where every move worsens his military or economic position, including doing nothing. Putin must go. He belongs in a gulag or on trial at The Hague or worse. This must end. Reprinted with permission. Read the original here. The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.