Putin Admits Escalation: Enemies Unable To Defeat Russia On Battlefield, Resort To 'Open Terrorism'

This month has witnessed a string of major Wildberries warehouses and logistics hubs go up in flames due to wave after wave of Ukrainian drones strikes. The Russian online retailer, which is by far the largest and widely deemed the 'Russian Amazon' - is bracing for likely more attacks to come.

Ukraine's long-range drones strikes have very clearly moved beyond just oil and defense industrial sites, and have even included an attack on a holiday camp in Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia over the weekend, which killed at least twelve civilians. The Kremlin called it a terror attack, given it was a direct assault on a resort area.

Fresh Monday comments from President Vladimir Putin have highlighted this shift in Ukraine's strategy. Putin says that its forces are unable to advance the battlefield, and so are increasingly moving to outright terrorism tactics.

"[Enemies] are unable to defeat Russia on the battlefield so they are betting on using openly terrorist methods against our people," Putin said at a Kremlin meeting with members of the outgoing Eighth State Duma (lower house of parliament).

"However, no one has ever succeeded in breaking the Russian people. It has never happened and it will never happen," he stressed. He further highlighted a broader Western effort to 'rattle' and 'break' Russia which the populace has successfully endured for years at this point. 

"Seeking to rattle the Russian state and provoke social division in our country, [Western countries] have attempted to strangle our economy, financial system, and banking sector, and sought to undermine the potential of science, industry, and education," Putin said.

But he admitted some serious challenges as a result of the 'special military operation' in Ukraine. "In response to historic trials and aggressive external pressure, our multi-ethnic people have responded with internal solidarity. That has always been the case, and that is precisely what we see today," he said.

"The past five years - the period of your tenure as deputies - have been challenging and immensely responsible for our country," Putin told the legislators. 

"We have long been confronted with unlawful restrictions, with attempts at containment and pressure - both after the 'Russian Spring' of 2014 and even before that. But since 2022, the West has put the Russophobic machine into full swing," he recalled.

Ukrainian drones strikes on a Wildberries facility in the vicinity of St. Petersburg last week:

Compilation of most Ukrainian drones strikes on a Wildberries facility in the vicinity of St. Petersburg, Russia this morning. https://t.co/8E7IJ7ZNI6 pic.twitter.com/fY7zmDyKDn

— Woofers (@NotWoofers) July 24, 2026

Some analysts have observed that over the last several months the war has moved toward escalation - and a more 'total war' environment which puts civilians on either side at greater risk.

Russian ballistic missile attacks directly on the Ukrainian capital have been more devastating of late, and so have Ukraine's long-range drones sent deep into Russia. With Russian missiles and drones increasingly falling on residential neighborhoods in and around Kiev, the Zelensky government is also hurling the terrorism charge right back at Moscow.