August 24 is a doubly symbolic day, which Ukraine is very concerned about. “Russia could go out of its way to do something particularly disgusting, particularly cruel,” Volodymyr Zelensky said in his traditional speech on Saturday.
“One of the key objectives of the enemy is to humiliate us”, to “sow discouragement, fear and conflict”, but “we must be strong enough to resist any provocation” and “make the occupiers pay for their terror”, he added. . the ukrainian president.
Why such fears? This day marks, first of all, the anniversary of Ukraine’s independence from the USSR in 1991. For thirty-one years, the country has been trying to “assert its autonomy from Russia,” Jérôme Pellistrandi tells BFMTV.com, Defense consultant for our antenna. “This is a date already connoted in normal times,” he adds. But this August 24 also represents six months since the beginning of the conflict with Russia, on February 24.
“A doubly heavy day, therefore, in the midst of a high-intensity war for Ukraine, of which around 20% of the territory is occupied by the Russians”, underlines the specialist.
Fears of bombing
The double symbolism associated with August 24 and the recent murder of the Russian journalist Daria Douguina, of which Ukraine is accused by the FSB, the Russian secret services, raise fears of an intensification of the bombings throughout the country.
“Russia is an archaic state that ties its actions to certain dates, it’s a kind of obsession. It hates us and will try to increase… the number of shelling of our cities, including kyiv, with cruise missiles,” Mykhailo said. . Podoliak, adviser to the presidency, according to the Interfax-Ukraine agency.
According to Jérôme Pellistrandi, the Ukrainian capital has, in fact, been “relatively preserved for the time being”, which makes it a potential target, as well as the west of the country in general.
As a sign of concern, the US Embassy in Kyiv is recommending that its citizens leave Ukraine, in a press release published on Tuesday. “The State Department has learned that Russia is intensifying its efforts to launch attacks against civilian infrastructure and government buildings in the coming days,” it said in the text.
an uncertain situation
As of this date, it is also “the launch of a new stopwatch”, estimates Patrick Sauce, international politics columnist for BFMTV. Because there are usually two months left before the arrival of autumn, after winter, two periods that will prevent the troops from actually fighting on the ground.
“The conflict is going to freeze in a literal and figurative sense. We are going to have sporadic bombardments through the winter, perhaps missiles fired from Russia, waiting for the offensive to resume in the spring. victory in two months”, explains Jérôme Pellistrandi.
The latter believes that Vladimir Putin “is obliged to obtain a military decision quickly, because he is under the pressure of his public opinion, which, under the action of propaganda, could demand responsibilities”. For the specialist, “we are in a situation that no one can control” and it is impossible “to know what is going to happen.” “The outlook is bleak,” he concludes.
Source: BFM TV
