U. S. officials warn nightmare as Putin hits peak desperation

It is day 70 of Putin’s war in Ukraine, but at least in Russia, the war isn’t official just yet— Russian leadership has continued to tout the invasion as a “special military operation.”

But that might all change on Victory Day, the day Russia celebrates the Soviet Union’s victory in World War II. Russian President Vladimir Putin is preparing to declare war against Ukraine on Victory Day, May 9, western and Ukrainian officials believe.

Putin will be declaring a full mobilization for war on May 9, Ukraine’s top military spy, Kyrylo Budanov, predicted this week. U. S. officials are also warning that Russia could declare war as soon as May 9, CNN reported.

Some senior U. S. officials fear Putin will massively escalate attacks on Ukraine in the coming days. Senior Biden administration officials are growing increasingly concerned that Putin is growing desperate to declare any sort of win in Ukraine as Victory Day approaches.

“He needs a victory to survive,” one senior administration official told The Daily Beast. “A repeat of [ the Soviet loss in] Afghanistan is literally an existential threat to a regime that is built on the idea that a strongman leader can revive the glory of the Russian empire.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a concert marking the anniversary of the annexation of Crimea, on March 18, 2022 in Moscow, Russia.

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The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly, said that the pressure to “deliver a victory, any kind of victory,” could set into motion an unprecedented escalation.

Putin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has denied Russia would announce mobilization or officially declare war on Ukraine on Victory Day.

Some of the day’s “festivities” could tout seeming successes of the invasion into Ukraine as a way to bolster support back home— either just to show off some alleged wins to justify the invasion or to garner support for further escalation.

The pomp and circumstance could include the twisted plan to present 500 Ukrainian prisoners of war during a parade to show Russia’s military might in comparison to

Ukraine’s, according to a report from Russian human rights project “Gulagu. net.” Putin is also reportedly considering holding sham trials of Ukrainians that Russia has claimed have been supportive of Nazis, in an imitation of the Nuremberg trials that worked to hold German Nazi leadership accountable.

The warnings of Russia’s plans come as Russian forces are suffering massive losses— as of Wednesday, Russia has lost 24,500 troops, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And the Russian military has been struggling to keep its manpower up to the task, working to recruit more people to join up, without much success.

Declaring war more formally would allow Russia to tap into reserve forces to swell its military operation on the ground in Ukraine to reach for a more decisive victory.

The symbolic Victory Day comes at a moment where Putin needs all the help he can get after his forces have been faltering for weeks. After his troops failed to take Kyiv and achieve some of his more ambitious goals in