Putin is gambling that the West will abandon Ukraine – we won’t

Editorial: Western Europe faces its most difficult winter since the end of the Second World War – but is prepared to make the sacrifices, rather than be forever held hostage by Russia

The Kyiv strikes also suggest that President Putin’s windy threats about nuclear escalation are just that – a bluff (AP)

The wrath of Putin”, some call the Russian strikes on multiple cities, including central Kyiv, which are plainly acts of retaliation for the attack on the Russia-Crimea Kerch bridge on Saturday.

Wrathful they certainly were. They were also a nasty reminder that the Russians, though demoralised and in retreat, still have some heavy missile weaponry at their disposal. It was no accident that downtown Kyiv was included in the strikes (though the hit on the visa office of the German embassy may not have been deliberate).

Vladimir Putin wants to intimidate Ukrainian leaders, terrorise civilians and further destroy Ukrainian cultural identity by taking out museums.