By New York Post (World News) | Created at 2026-06-10 19:11:02 | Updated at 2026-06-11 09:16:23
14 hours ago
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is hoping for a Hail Mary winter offensive against Ukraine, experts said — as Russia’s economy is in a death spiral and the war-mongering leader is growing increasingly desperate.
After a lackluster spring offensive left Russia losing more territory than it conquered for the first time in three years, the Kremlin is now likely eyeing a large-scale assault come winter to inflict maximum damage on Ukraine, Maria Snegovaya, a senior fellow with the CSIS think tank’s Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program, told the Post.
“Putin will wait for the winter again to resume the large-scale strikes and create a humanitarian crisis to get concessions in the Donbas issue,” Snegovaya said, referencing the region Russia has failed to completely conquer for more than four years.
The expert warned that the strikes would be even larger than last winter’s, when Russia fired a record number of drones and missiles daily against critical civilian infrastructure.
Russia will also likely expand its attacks further by targeting Ukrainian railways to disrupt supply lines and attacking water infrastructure, added Kateryna Stepanenko, the Russia team lead and deputy director of the Cognitive Warfare Project at the Institute for the Study of War think tank.
Snegovaya, who was in Ukraine last month, said the brutal winter was still at the forefront of the minds of the average Ukrainian citizen — with Putin likely wanting to tap into that terror in a desperate attempt to get himself out of his current situation.
Putin is facing increased pressure inside Russia over the country’s plummeting economy and internet outages, which experts say could be a prelude to panicked actions by the Kremlin.
The Kremlin war machine is also facing rapidly dropping recruitment rates as the war rages on.
Moscow’s federal budget deficit grew to $81.4 billion in the first five months of the year — twice as much compared to the same period last year, according to the Russian Ministry of Finance.
The country’s budget expenditures also soared by 17%, all while oil and natural gas revenues fell by nearly 30%.
Moscow’s gold reserves also plunged by 5.7 tons in April, the sharpest drop in a quarter century, according to the Central Bank of Russia.
“Russia’s gold reserves are being drained, the civilian market is seeing labor shortages and the economy has taken a significant hit,” Stepanenko said.
The economic problems have affected Russia’s recruitment rates, which dropped to around 30,000 per month in May — below the number of casualties the Kremlin suffered in the same month.
The plummeting recruitment has reportedly forced the Kremlin to target university students to sign up for the war, even offering to waive tuition fees and expunge poor grades for those who do, according to reports.
The country’s prisons have already been raided to recruit convicts, including serial killers.
The Kremlin has reportedly set a 2% quota for male students to be recruited in April.
Leaked recordings of professors and military officials trying to enlist students put the desperation on full display.
In one recording taped earlier this year and obtained by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the director of a transport college in Siberia berated a class of 18-year-olds as “cowards” for not signing up.
“What are you afraid of? Who made you this scared? Who’s gonna protect us?” she railed, according to the outlet.
“I’m telling you, go [to the army] right now, and then you’ll get your diploma. Now go sign a contract.”
Meanwhile, Stepanenko noted that Russia already offers recruits around $140,000 in loans to sign up — which will only compound the country’s dire economic outlook.
“There’s a challenging decision in store for Putin on recruitment, as he has seemed hesitant to take significant action over the political and economic costs,” Stepanenko said.
“A lot of these problems are finally catching up to Putin,” she added.
Experts warn that the Kremlin could take dramatic action to try and mitigate its losses under the cover of internet outages that have begun to hit Russia, where the popular Telegram is being blocked.
With free communications down for the people, Russia may be poised to enact unpopular policies while avoiding widespread protests.
“We could see mobilization, decrease compensation for recruits and veterans, maybe even the nationalization of the properties of Moscow elites to raise funds for the war,” Stepanenko added.
