WP: Putin aims to end Europe’s support for Ukraine

As Ukraine’s European backers deal with myriad challenges at home — violent student protests in France, political upheaval in Germany and a mounting fuel crisis across the continent — Russian President Vladimir Putin is counting on a collapse of European support for Kyiv in the coming months, Russian and European officials and analysts say, The Washington Post writes.

He appears to be proceeding on the belief that he has the advantage in a war of attrition against not only Ukraine but also Europe — which, as the Trump administration stops seeking new congressional funding for Kyiv, the Kremlin increasingly views as its main obstacle to victory.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Sunday made an unexpected visit to Kyiv, where he announced $1.5 billion in new aid to Ukraine. But his own political future is uncertain after stunning gains in regional elections by the far-right Alternative for Germany party, which opposes aid for Ukraine.

Putin, meanwhile, is working to advance Russia’s position on several fronts, Russian and European officials and analysts say.

By targeting civilian infrastructure in Kyiv, they say, he’s aiming to make the capital unlivable by winter, destabilizing the country. He’s hoping that by spring, Europe will no longer have the appetite — or the ability — to support Ukraine.

Putin had indicated he would be ready to return to talks once the Duma elections were over. But he claimed last week that Ukrainian drone attacks over the election period Sept. 19 and 20 had derailed any possibility of a restart.

“The Russian leadership is concerned that the level of involvement of Europe in the conflict is constantly growing,” said a Russian academic close to senior diplomats, speaking on the condition of anonymity to share sensitive discussions. “And of course Moscow would like to stop the process somehow.”

The head of foreign intelligence in Germany, Ukraine’s largest backer, warned the Bundestag, the German legislature, on Monday that Moscow was stepping up an aggressive “shadow war” against the country to undermine its support for Kyiv. “Russia is putting us to the test and closely watching how we handle this situation,” Federal Intelligence Service chief Martin Jaeger told lawmakers. “From the perspective of the Kremlin leadership, any sign of wavering invites them to further increase the pressure on Germany.”

As political forces with more pro-Moscow views rise in Europe, “strategic waiting and patience are also tactics, of course.”

After Merz appeared in Kyiv on Sunday, Alternative for Germany co-leader Alice Weidel criticized the chancellor for “promising further billions in German taxpayer money that is missing from the pension and health insurance funds, while Germany is mired in its worst energy crisis.”

“It’s all too much to fathom anymore,” she wrote. Weidel has said Germany should turn supplies of Russian gas back on.

Putin has reveled in Europe’s financial and political challenges. He told the annual Valdai gathering of international foreign policy analysts last week that European leaders’ complaints of escalating hybrid attacks were aimed at distracting attention from their own domestic woes. “Look at what’s happening with the economy,” he said. “Look at what’s happening to social policy, with the living standards of citizens of the biggest European states. In these conditions they have to… switch the attention of their citizens from internal problems to problems of an external nature.”

Asked by a journalist whether Russia would try to dismantle the European Union, he said no effort was needed: “They will fall apart by themselves.”

All Putin really wants, she said, is for Europe to become “more pragmatic” and follow the path taken by President Donald Trump.

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