VLADIMIR Putin will do “whatever it takes, at any price” to finish his bloodthirsty invasion as he gears up for “total war”, experts warn.
The tyrant could intensify his blitzes and expand the fight beyond Ukraine, analysts fear, as he funnels more forces to his meatgrinder frontlines.
National Security Strategist Dr Jason Smart said the troop injection signals the tyrant is gearing up for “total war” on the West, as sabotage attacks cooked up by the Kremlin seek to rattle Ukraine’s Nato allies.
He told The Sun that Putin increasing the size of the Russian military “makes very clear that he has plans for a larger war”.
Dr Smart warned: “He doesn’t need this just to fight Ukraine. Remember, the population of Russia, it’s about 140million people. The population of free Ukraine, the part that’s not under occupation, it’s only about 24million people.
“So given the incredible size differences, why does Russia need an ever larger military that continues to fail in Ukraine? Well it’s not just for the war in Ukraine, it’s for the larger war that he’s planning.”
Putin has pumped 17trillion roubles (£154bn) into his war chest – a record amount since invading Ukraine in 2022.
Dr Smart said the budget increase suggests Putin “is making plans for a total war, a war that he’s going to latch his own future to”.
His already war-weary population will have to pay for the boost to his military spending with tax increases, which are unlikely to be received well by people already feeling the effects of Ukraine’s long-range drone blasts and fuel shortages.
Military analyst Professor Michael Clarke told The Sun he thinks Putin could be preparing to further intensify his onslaught on Ukraine.
He said: “I think he may be saying to himself, ‘I’m going to settle this now, whatever the cost.”
And Putin’s already plotting to send future generations to fight, training his country’s children in combat and sending kids to indoctrination camps where they are taught how to control killer drones.
Professor Clarke said: “My hypothesis about Putin for the next six months is that he has a new theory of victory, which would be to flood the battle zone with troops between now and Christmas.
“Even though they won’t be trained, he could just get them there as far as they can to intensify the bombardment of Ukraine, particularly the cities.”
“‘I’ll do whatever it takes at any price to finish this war on my terms’.”
The desperate despot has increased the size of his army by 15,500 soldiers.
But it’s the fourth such increase this year, bringing the number of active forces fighting for Putin up to a staggering 1.55million.
North Korea is preparing to ship another 10,000 soldiers to Russia and Professor Clarke said Putin pal Kim Yong Un could send far more than that in the future – up to 50 or 100,000.
Ukraine believes Vlad could mobilise an extra 300,000 troops for his invasion by the end of 2026, then could do the same after Christmas.
Intelligence officials think Putin is preparing a huge “stealth mobilisation”.
And he’s already snatching Russians off the street and bussing them to the frontlines, importing foreign fighters and offering huge payouts to recruits.
The tyrant reportedly fears for his own life if he can’t make decent gains in Ukraine, insiders revealed this summer.
According to The Economist, petrified Putin told Kremlin cronies that if he does not win control of the Donbas: “They will hang me.”
Professor Clarke said: “Although flooding the battlefield with more troops would be very, very unpopular in Russia, I think that the theory behind it is that he’s not going to live another two or three years through this situation.
“He’s got to settle it now.”
He added: “You get the sense that he is working up to a major decision in the next three or four weeks to really go for broke.”
Dr Jade McGlynn, Head of the Ukraine and Russia Programme and Senior Research Fellow at King’s College London’s Centre for Statecraft and National Security, said new forces won’t last two weeks once they arrive at the front lines.
She told The Sun: “According to Western estimates of how many troops are dying, that would cover about two weeks.”
But Putin is “signalling intent that he won’t give up”, Dr McGlynn believes.
So far, because the Russian leader continues to play down his full-scale mobilisation as a “special military operation” he legally cannot start full conscription.
Dr McGlynn explained: “What we’ve seen ever since the Special Military Operation failed around March or April in 2022, is what we might call a sort of crypto-mobilisation, a hidden mobilisation.
“In practice, you have mobilisation going on, by hook or by crook.
“It’s often quite sneakily or coercively or putting people in positions they don’t want to be in.
“So rounding up migrants, sending them to prison and saying, if you don’t want to spend time in prison, why don’t you go to the front?”
She added that huge signing-up bonuses are being paid to recruits, and in areas where officials can’t afford to give out cash “people are just dragged off the street and put onto a bus”.
It comes as 250 of Vlad’s troops were captured when Volodymyr Zelensky‘s forces deployed “zombie cars” to blow up Russia’s most heavily guarded positions.
The unmanned cars were packed with explosives and sent charging north of the city of Lyman in Operation Vivaldi, forcing mass surrenders.
Dr McGlynn said: “Russia does just throw men at the problem. You have very scant regard for their kind of worth as individual human beings.
“But that’s not the only story of Russia on the battlefield. Russia is also, you know, has also engaged in incredible military innovation.”
She warned of “a very difficult winter for Ukrainian civilians” as Putin ramps up attacks on infrastructure.
As Russia gears up for a fresh offensive to break the frontline deadlock, Putin is desperately trying to thwart European support for Ukraine.
Professor Clarke said the Russian leader wants to “increase the pressure on the Europeans to stop supporting Ukraine, to frighten them out of supporting them”.
Moscow has ramped up pressure on Nato states in recent months, with Western officials accusing the Kremlin of reckless drone incursions and sabotage.
In one of the starkest warnings yet, Danish intelligence said Russia could launch a military attack against a Nato state in just months.
A fire at a Starlink satellite station in central Poland was last week described by local authorities as an “act of sabotage”.
Weeks earlier, Nato jets scrambled to shoot down a drone in Lithuania, a Russian frigate fired flares at a Danish defence helicopter and a suspected Russian drone washed up on a Polish beach in a triple overnight threat.
And in August, Germany publicly blamed Russia for an attempted drone attack at Leipzig airport.
Dr McGlynn said Putin was hoping to wear down Ukraine’s allies.
She explained: “Primarily it is about scaring off countries for backing Ukraine.
“From the Russian perspective, they look at Western history, say for example, the withdrawal from Afghanistan, and they say, okay, these are people who get bored and just give up.”
Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/17080067/putin-troop-surge-gears-total-war/
