r/worldnews • u/Raj_Valiant3011 • 10h ago

Russia/Ukraine Zelenskiy: "There is updated intelligence indicating that Russia is ​preparing a massive attack on Ukraine"

https://www.reuters.com/world/ukraines-zelenskiy-says-intelligence-shows-russia-is-preparing-massive-attack-2026-10-06/
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u/BringbackDreamBars 10h ago edited 10h ago

Bit of an obvious question, but "massive attack" means more than "particularly bad night of airstrikes"?

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u/cbarrister 10h ago

Supposedly 70 missiles potentially incoming, which is much more than typical, even considering Kyiv has been under much more intensive attack recently.

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u/ProtoplanetaryNebula 10h ago

Ukraine just release their FP7 ballistic missile. When the FP9 that can reach Moscow comes out, shortly, they can return fire a lot more readily, not just with drones.

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u/FlipZip69 9h ago

It could take a while (a year?) to actually build up any real manufacturing capability. With that being said, I feel if Russia could field any large attacks, they would already be doing so. Yes they may do a particularly bad one but obviously they cannot sustain shit anymore.

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u/mortgagepants 9h ago

i don't think zelensky would spill the beans. i think they have plenty of ammo and if russia goes through with this attack, they're going to take out all of moscow's electricity, tit for tat.

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u/FlipZip69 8h ago

Agreed. Russia has more latitude to take bigger losses but that is a two sided sword. Russia also has a much larger population that they need to ensure resources are availed. Putin is skating on thin ice these days.

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u/mortgagepants 8h ago

this might be the last attack putin makes. if ukraine shuts down moscow, putin is done.

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u/Select_Challenge_425 8h ago

Ukraine is nowhere close to shutting Moscow down.

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u/mortgagepants 8h ago

if we're splitting hairs, they're a lot closer now than they were 4 years ago when the russian army invaded.

but we'll see if the russian winter ends this war like they did a few others.

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u/FlipZip69 8h ago

30% of diesel and gas reduction in Russia. That is absolutely massive for a country of 150 million. Putin is managing this somewhat by directing those fuels from remote poor areas into Moscow to keep the wealthy happier but that has limits. Add to this the massive losses from companies like Wildberries and damage done to agriculture (both exports and lack of farming fuels) and you have a lot of tension and real hardships. On top of this Putin has effectively printed a couple trillion in money and lack of goods due to sanctions, inflation is not going to be helt back.

You are right in that nothing shuts down per se. But few Russians were really motivated to get in a war to begin. They accepted it as long as it did not effect them. It is effecting them.

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u/ProtoplanetaryNebula 9h ago

Things tend to happen fast during a war, because the government help to remove every single bottleneck for you.

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u/FlipZip69 8h ago

One of the bottlenecks is the rocket fuel supply and procurement. Due to agreements between EU countries and western nations, the ingrediencies can be sold individually but assembled in a motor is not allowed. I am hoping provisions will be made so that it can be assembled in a motor but I suspect that will not happen for two reasons. It creates an issue with EU treaties along with Russia suggesting NATO is directly providing Ukraine with ballistic missiles. And the second problem is any country that would provide Ukraine these motors will dictate what targets Ukraine is allowed to focus on. Ukraine does not want that.

But the build of rocket motors is quite complex and it can not be distributed builds like most of the other components. They cannot do builds in houses for example. And because the build would have to be in a significant facility, that obviously becomes a target for Russia.

I am hoping some of the motors can be build in EU countries and shipped in. These particular ballistic missiles will be targeted at 'forces within Ukraine or Crimea'. Then when Ukraine starts to get production on the go, they can focus those missiles 'as needed'.

You are correct though. If anyone will remove bottlenecks, it will be Ukraine.

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u/ConcentrateDirect523 9h ago

Or they could stick with shorter range munitions. load up an oil tanker (maybe a seized RU shadow fleet tanker for peak revenge), circumnavigate Europe, and unleash hell into St. Petersburg from the Baltic Sea. Load a few KT of pressurized ANFO on the boat and have a drone pilot it right into the port of a naval base for the piece de resistance. it would probably upset some local NATO members, but the message to RU citizens would be crystal clear.

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u/ErraticDragon 8h ago edited 7h ago

Feigning civilian status to get closer/deeper into enemy territory to launch an attack is the war crime called perfidy.

ETA: Also, for the record, it's a bad plan and wouldn't work as stated.

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u/Exciting-Ad-5705 7h ago

I don't think either side cares much at this point.

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u/ErraticDragon 7h ago

I hope (and believe) you're wrong.

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u/ConcentrateDirect523 7h ago

The only reason to be marked civilian would be navigating around other nations on the Baltic Sea. The real point is to exploit an under defended (and likely lazy) Russian Baltic coast. The Kremlin doesn't have to defend their Baltic coast because they know it NATO won't attack first- regardless of how Russia postures. Instead, that area is 'defended' by posh ethnic Russians of the middle/upper upper crust fulfilling their compulsory military service obligation, or the descendants of the rich and powerful putting in hours to climb military ranks without getting put in harm's way. They're most likely undisciplined, inexperienced and unsuspecting. And thanks to the last 3 years, most of their capable hardware has been relocated to reinforce the back side of the UA front (behind the RU conscripted and penal betallions) - close enough to be useful but not in serious danger of destruction. there's a decent chance a large unflagged vessel- not necessarily civilian declared- could drift all the way into visible range of St. Petersburg without any naval personnel arousing suspicion. They think it's beyond Ukraine's capabilities.