Warsaw’s Imbecilic Squabble with Kyiv is more Dangerous than History

Poland’s unexpected, imbecilic squabble with Ukraine about who killed who first comes at a very dangerous time and could lead to a widening of Moscow’s war with Ukraine, more bloodshed, and the introduction of Warsaw into the bloody carnage.

Someone, likely Russians or one of their for-hire associates, has goaded Polish President Karol Nawrocki into insulting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian nation by raising questionable information about events during World War Two.

I’m not suggesting that that history should be swept under the carpet but now certainly isn’t the time to engage in an emotional tirade about who killed whom first.

If these words and insults escalate into bullets and blood, then only Russia will benefit. The recent report about Russian false flag operations against Poland is a case in point.

The Telegraph, a newspaper in England, and Polish news outlet Onet have confirmed that US intelligence recently passed multiple warnings to Warsaw regarding a potential Russian armed provocation.  Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, and Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz have publicly addressed these reports, stating that Poland is preparing “very intensively” for these exact security scenarios.  

Intelligence suggests a hybrid or armed provocation could be launched on Poland’s soil (or against the Baltic states) within the coming months. The main objective is Moscow’s primary calculation to test NATO’s resolve and cohesion. By creating a crisis, Russia hopes to pressure Western allies into scaling back or suspending military aid to Ukraine. 

The plan would call for targeted drone strikes or sabotage against critical Polish infrastructure, such as power plants. This would simulate a massive air attack to force Poland to activate its air defense networks. This would then be followed by limited, localized ground incursions across the border from either Belarus or the Kaliningrad exclave.

According to the intelligence, Russia would likely use “plausible deniability” or deception to manage the fallout of a ground or airspace breach. This would also portray a “false flag” incident as a provocation carried out by Ukrainian forces using fabricated markers. 

Polish officials are urging the public to remain calm while treating the intelligence with extreme seriousness. Defense Minister Kosiniak-Kamysz noted that low-level hybrid provocations (like cyberattacks and airspace violations) are already happening daily, which is why Poland has fast-tracked the largest rearmament program in its modern history.

Meanwhile, neighboring Baltic defense ministries have also noted that while a large-scale conventional military invasion is not imminent due to Russian forces being heavily tied down in Ukraine, the threat of high-impact sabotage and border provocations remains at an all-time high.

With its near abroad escalating a squabble to a hot battle, Russia will send in its armies to put out the flames of war for its benefit.

And Russia wins again because of a squabble. Let’s be smarter.

Trump Urges ‘Senseless Killing’ in Ukraine to End

President Donald Trump wants a peace deal to end the “senseless killing” in Ukraine, an Administration official said Thursday, July 2, after the latest massive Russian barrage on Kyiv killed at least 21 people.

“President Trump has a humanitarian heart and wants this war settled so the senseless killing ends,” the official told Agence France-Presse (AFP) in response to a question on the Russian attack.

“The President and his team have worked very hard to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, and he remains optimistic that we’ll ultimately get a peace deal done.”

Trump said before his return to office last year that he could solve the Ukraine war within 24 hours, but US efforts to broker a ceasefire between Moscow and Kyiv have so far failed. Among the reasons why he has failed so far are that he fails to comprehend the cause of this war, he favors Russia more than the victim Ukraine, and he refuses to give Ukraine all of the weapons it needs to vanquish Russia.

The Trump has railed against the cost of military aid for Kyiv and famously berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office in February 2025, accusing him of lacking the cards to wage a winning war against Russia. What a difference 17 months have made.

In contrast, Trump has taken a largely friendly tone toward Putin, although he has shown mounting frustration with the Russian furor’s refusal to end the war.

Zelenskyy on Thursday, July 2, called on allies to discuss speeding up air-defense aid for his war-torn country at the NATO summit in Ankara next week, which Trump will attend. 

‘Night of Horror’ – Just as Promised, Russia Hits Ukraine with Massive Airborne Barrage

Just as Russia had promised and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had warned, Moscow fulfilled its pledge to rain hellfire and brimstone on Ukrainian cities. Apparently, the previous two days’ airborne assaults were just dry runs.

Waves of Russian missiles and strike drones pounded Kyiv overnight on July 2, just hours after Zelenskyy again warned that Russia was preparing more large-scale attacks against Ukraine.

At least 21 people have been killed, Kyiv City Military Administration Head Tymur Tkachenko said. Ukraine’s State Emergency Service  (DSNS) added that search and rescue operations were ongoing at several sites including a partially collapsed multi-story residential building in the Darnitskyi neighborhood. The death toll is expected to rise further.

Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said it was a “night of horror” in the capital, which had a pre-war population of roughly 3 million people.

Later on July 2, despite widespread destruction and civilian casualties, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov repeated Moscow’s well-known lies that Russian forces had targeted only “military or quasi-military targets,” adding that Russian leader Vladimir Putin had been briefed on the attack.

According to the latest reports from the ground this morning, the bombardment was one of the most massive and coordinated aerial onslaughts the capital has faced. Russia launched an overwhelming barrage of 74 missiles (including 24 ballistic missiles) and nearly 500 long-range strike drones, intentionally overwhelming air defenses to strike civilian centers. 

The toll is catastrophic and still rising as emergency crews dig through the rubble. At least 21 people have been confirmed dead in Kyiv alone, with over 86 injured – 70 of whom require urgent hospitalization. 

Widespread destruction was visible throughout. Damage has been recorded across all 10 districts of Kyiv on both sides of the Dnipro River. Direct hits and falling debris have struck over 20 residential buildings, including the partial collapse of multi-story apartment blocks in the Darnytskyi and Desnianskyi districts, a hotel on a central boulevard, a research institute, and an ambulance station. 

Other regions of Ukraine were also hit. While Kyiv bore the brunt of the “night of horror,” explosions and casualties have also been reported in several other regions, including the Bucha district and infrastructure nodes in Dnipro, where residential areas were also heavily impacted. 

President Zelenskyy, who cut short a diplomatic visit to Ireland after intelligence warned of the imminent “Goliath” assault, emphasized that this brutal targeting of civilians is a terror tactic aimed at intimidation. Meanwhile, the Kremlin continues its transparent and cynical rhetoric, claiming they only targeted “military or quasi-military” infrastructure, even as footage shows burning apartment buildings and families huddled on subway platforms.  The resilience of the Ukrainian people taking shelter in the metro stations overnight is awe-inspiring, but days like today underscore the profound, urgent cost of delayed air defense systems.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko put the number of injured at 86, 70 of whom had been hospitalized, and described the attack as the “most massive” of the war on the capital. Two of the injured are children, DSNS said.

“It was a terrible night for Kyiv,” Klitschko said, adding there was “damage in all districts of the city.”

He declared tomorrow, July 3, a Day of Mourning in the capital. 

Speaking to journalists afterward, Zelenskyy observed, “Putin is losing this war. That’s what’s happening. He understands that the only thing he can do is intimidate people and simply kill civilians with missile strikes.”

Speaking to journalists later at the site of a Russian strike in Kyiv’s Darnytskyi district, Zelenskyy said Russia’s attack exposed Ukraine’s continuing shortage of air defense interceptors.

“If our partners had delivered what they promised on time, I think we could have saved more homes and, frankly, more lives,” he said.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine would need at least 140 Patriot missiles to intercept an attack involving around 70 ballistic missiles, arguing that Kyiv was not asking for additional commitments but for previously agreed military assistance to be delivered.

Kyiv’s metro sheltered a record 52,500 people, including nearly 4,500 children, during Russia’s overnight attack, the Kyiv Metro said on Telegram. All 46 underground stations served as bomb shelters during the air raid. Many residents also sheltered in underground parking garages.

“The moment we stepped out of the underground parking garage, a ballistic missile struck,” Hanna Polishchuk, who lives in the residential building next to the one that partially collapsed in the Darnitskyi District, told the Kyiv Independent.  

“Everyone immediately ran back inside. There was complete panic. There was such an enormous explosion. It felt as though the whole parking garage was about to collapse, like everything around us was falling apart.”

The Ukrainian Air Force had warned that groups of Russian drones were approaching Kyiv and other cities, including Mykolaiv, Konotop, and Kherson. About an hour later, it reported additional waves of drones moving toward the capital.

The attacks on Moscow, combined with Ukraine’s increasingly successful operation against Russian logistics in Crimea, have undermined Putin’s claims of battlefield victory — and possibly his grip on power in the Kremlin.

Elsewhere, smaller Russian attacks against Ukraine persisted over the previous 24 hours Zelenskyy said on July 1 that Ukraine had been under Russia’s air attacks “all day.”

In southern Kherson Oblast, 3 people were killed in Russian attacks across various settlements over the past day, 45 were injured, including three children, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on July 2.

In the northeastern Kharkiv Oblast, two people were killed, 48 were injured in Russian attacks across the region, Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said on July 2.

The city of Kharkiv was hit the hardest in the Kharkiv Oblast, as a 15-year-old boy was killed, and 32 civilians were injured in a Russian daytime attack on the city on July 1, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov reported. Terekhov said the city was attacked with seven glide bombs.

In Odesa Oblast, two people were killed, and 13 were injured following a ballistic missile strike on the region on June 1, Ukraine's State Emergency Service reported. The attack destroyed two warehouses, the agency added.

In eastern Donetsk Oblast, one person was killed, 10 were injured in Russian attacks, Governor Vadym Filashkin said.

In northeastern Sumy Oblast, seven people were injured in Russian attacks, the regional military administration reported.

In Russian attacks on Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, four people were injured over the past day, Governor Oleksandr Hanzha reported on July 1 and July 2.

In southeastern Zaporizhzhia Oblast, three people were injured in Russia's attacks on the region and the city of Zaporizhzhia, Governor Ivan Fedorov said.

Ukraine’s frequent attacks inside Russia, described by Zelenskyy as a 40-day assault, have especially targeted oil refineries, causing a fuel crisis that has frustrated Russians already feeling the war’s economic toll.

World leaders condemned the latest attack and called for increased pressure on Russia through stronger military support for Ukraine and tougher sanctions.

Dutch Defense Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius said Putin’s “atrocities know no bounds” and argued that peace could only be achieved by strengthening Ukraine. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas pledged to propose additional sanctions targeting those supporting Russia's military-industrial complex. Moldovan President Maia Sandu also called for greater pressure on Moscow and stronger support for Ukraine.

European Union Ambassador to Ukraine Katarina Mathernovam, who is currently in Kyiv, described the overnight attack as “hell on Kyiv” in a post on social media. She said residents spent the night in bomb shelters as large parts of the city appeared to be on fire, and warned that the death toll was likely to rise.

Kharkiv, in the East, some 19 miles from the Russian border, has been under a brutal, unrelenting siege over the past 24 to 48 hours, absorbing a distinct and terrifying wave of attacks alongside the broader nationwide onslaught. 

While Kyiv was targeted primarily with long-range cruise and ballistic missiles, Russia has been systematically devastating Kharkiv using a combination of guided glide bombs (KABs) and an increasingly aggressive use of FPV (first-person view) strike drones targeting local neighborhoods. 

In the Kharkiv region, five people, among them a child, were injured after Russian drone attacks struck homes, farms, and other civilian sites. In the Kyiv region, two people were wounded as Russian strikes damaged businesses and civilian infrastructure. In the Dnipro region, Russian attacks hit five districts, injuring two people. Russia also targeted the Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, and Cherkasy regions.

Military observers have detected a dangerous shift in Russian tactics against Ukraine. Local authorities, including Mayor Ihor Terekhov and regional police chief Petro Tokar, have warned of a highly targeted escalation this summer. Russia is weaponizing the city’s proximity to the border by deploying low-altitude FPV drones into civilian sectors that were previously outside their usual range:

Thirty-four FPV drone strikes have successfully penetrated the city limits this year—with 29 of those occurring since May alone. These cheap, highly maneuverable strike drones are actively hunting on a micro-level, intentionally hitting civilian cars, delivery vehicles, and residential doorsteps primarily in Northern Saltivka and the Shevchenkivskyi district. Local ambulance crews have even had to petition for specialized electronic warfare jamming equipment just to protect themselves from being targeted while responding to hit sites. 

In total, across June alone, Kharkiv endured 142 distinct attacks, resulting in 12 deaths and 122 civilian injuries. Despite the daily terror, the city continues to stubbornly rebuild its shattered residential blocks and maintain its underground schools, refusing to empty out.

Russia continues to deliberately strike homes and families. Pressure on Russia must increase, and Ukraine must receive the air defense it urgently needs to protect lives. My thoughts are entirely with the victims, their families, and everyone enduring this terror. The free world, NATO, Europe must stand up and vanquish the evil empire that is Russia. 

Kyiv Hit again the Next Day

Russian forces again attacked Kyiv on July 2 with drones and ‌missiles overnight local time, injuring five as they ⁠hit residential buildings and triggering a fire in a hotel on a central boulevard.

Emergency services work at the site of a strike on a residential building during a night of Russian missile and drone strikes, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, writing on Telegram, said the hotel roof was on fire. ‌Pictures posted online showed a fire burning out of control at the top ‌of the building on ‌the central Shevchenko Boulevard.

In a later post on Telegram, Klitschko said Kyiv also came ‌under ballistic missile attack, with five people injured in one of ‌the central districts. Multiple explosions were heard in Kyiv, ‌a witness told Reuters.

People were trapped in a damaged ⁠nine-story residential building and a roof of another high-rise apartment building was on fire, Klitschko added.

Other pictures on ⁠unofficial Telegram channels showed residents crowding into ‌underground stations.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had earlier warned that intelligence reports showed an overnight attack on the country ⁠was likely and said he was ⁠cutting short his stay in Dublin, which he visited for ⁠the start of Ireland's six-month term in charge of ‌the ⁠rotating presidency of the European Union.

Kyiv Hit by Massive Drone Attack

A wave of Russian drones and ballistic missiles hit Kyiv late Tuesday, June 30, sparking fires in a central district and sending residents into air raid shelters hours after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned of an imminent mass attack, according to Ukrainian news media.

Kyiv’s air defense units engaged Russian targets on the approaches to the city as officials warned that the assault could unfold in several waves perhaps over a few days.

Kyiv’s Shevchenkivskyi neighborhood was hit by falling debris during the attack.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the roof of a three-story non-residential building caught fire, with emergency services working at the scene.

Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, later reported a separate fire at a hotel in the same district as a result of the attack.

In the Desnianskyi district, drone debris fell near a private home. Officials said no fire was reported there.

The drone incursion escalated into a combined aerial assault after midnight, when Ukrainian officials warned of a ballistic missile threat.

“Stay in shelters!” Tkachenko urged residents.

At 1:53 a.m., Ukraine’s Air Force reported that Russian ballistic missiles were heading toward Kyiv from the north.

Tkachenko said Russian drones were entering Kyiv from several directions, warning that the attack could unfold in several stages. He also cautioned that a wider combined attack remained possible in the coming days.

The overnight strikes came hours after Zelenskyy said Ukrainian intelligence had detected Russian preparations for a major attack.

Speaking during an official visit to Ireland on Tuesday, the Ukrainian president urged citizens to take air raid alerts seriously and use shelters.

“We know that Putin has been preparing this massive strike against Ukraine for some time,” Zelenskyy said, warning that the threat could materialize overnight.

The president said Moscow’s continued attacks show that the Kremlin is not seeking to end the war despite repeated diplomatic outreach.

One remaining question is if this was massive aerial attack that Zelenskyy said would materialize any day.

Russian Brutality will last long after Putin

Despite Ukrainians’ prayers that Russian brutality, aggression, subjugation and war crimes will end with the demise of führer Vladimir Putin’s reign, objectively that will not come to pass. Russia’s bloodshed, violence and carnage will continue.

In foreign relations, this defies logic. This defies logic in the minds of Presidents and other inhabitants of today’s White House because they believe that a human being runs a country and with his or her nonviolent transition or violent end, the malicious policies and actions will also end. At least two experts believe that is not the case with Russia and Russian leaders be they tsars, commissars or presidents. It is worthwhile to heed their observations.

One of them, Askold S. Lozynskyj expressed his views in the Fall 2025 edition of The Ukrainian Quarterly, of which I am editor in chief.

In his article “The Only Solution,” Lozynskyj makes the following significant points about Russia and its leaders:

· My opinion of Russians that I have met as well as Russian culture and way of life is very negative. This view I will not attempt to hide in my analysis. I submit that Russia is the aggressor here, guilty not only of starting this war but of conducting it without any regard for the lives of Ukrainian civilians including children.

· International law or norms do not sway Russian behavior and over the course of the decade Russia has become more brazen in this regard. 

· Russia fights because it is driven by an evil, psychotic disposition to be an empire. This is a cultural psychosis. Russia does not need Ukraine except that without Ukraine Russia is not an empire of historical note.

· Russian clerics have provided the “mens rea” and made it abundantly clear that the purpose of “special military operation” is to erase Ukrainians from the face of the earth.

· Russian history and culture prove that the state and its people are hostile and inveterate imperialists. The Russian Federation today consists of 11 time zones. Only one legitimately belongs to Russia. The remaining are territories that were invaded and annexed by force. Some 150 nationalities reside within the Russian Federation. More than half are indigenous. What that means is that their lands do not legitimately belong to Russia.

· Putin did not make Russia. Russia made Putin. This is the most important fact that the West cannot comprehend. Even a marginal study of the history of the Russian empire would make this most abundantly clear. While Vladimir Putin is brutal, he follows in the footsteps of a long list of Russian criminal leaders. Putin himself has patterned his rule and spoken out about his progenitors, Peter the Great and Catherine the Great. They were great only by the measure of Russian historians. To be sure, they expanded the empire, but they did so with much bloodshed.

Another analyst, Thomas Nilsson is head of the Military Intelligence Service of Sweden. He too believes that Russian brutality will far outlast Putin. He has been quoted extensively in the past few weeks.

Lieut. Gen. Thomas Nilsson is a high-ranking official, serving as the director of the Swedish Military Intelligence and Security Service (widely known by its Swedish acronym, MUST). He is a career Swedish Air Force officer who took over the top intelligence role on May 1, 2023, following an extensive background that includes serving as Sweden’s military representative to both NATO and the European Union.

According to Nilsson, Russia is likely to remain a security threat long after Putin leaves office. He opined this on June 30 in an interview with Bloomberg, describing Moscow’s confrontation with the West as “deep, structural and enduring.”

Nilsson emphasized that Stockholm does not view the current clash with Moscow as a temporary blip. He stated that Russia has chosen a path of deep, structural, and enduring strategic confrontation with the West that will persist long after Putin is out of office.

He recently made waves by describing the scale of Russian casualties in its war against Ukraine – which MUST estimates at over 1 million dead and seriously wounded over the course of the war – as “unimaginable.”

Nilsson has noted that while Russia currently has to prioritize its immediate operations, its long-term intelligence blueprints still involve establishing a vastly expanded, structured military force stretching all the way from northern Finland down along NATO’s eastern flank once resources allow.

“We don't see this crisis as a temporary one; Russia has chosen its path, and there is no way back,” Nilsson said.

The intelligence chief also said Sweden saw no signs that Russia’s political system or Putin’s grip on power were under immediate threat, despite economic strains caused by the war and Western sanctions.

“Political opposition has effectively been eliminated – through exile, imprisonment, or, in the worst cases, assassination,” Nilsson said, adding that there was no political force capable of channeling public dissatisfaction into an alternative to the current regime.

The intelligence chief also said Russia was planning to expand its military presence along NATO's northeastern flank, stretching “from northern Finland all the way down.” While many of those plans remain on paper as Moscow prioritizes its war against Ukraine, Sweden expects Russia to pursue them once it regains sufficient resources and military capacity.

Nilsson's comments came after Nordic media recently reported, based on satellite imagery, that Russia was expanding military infrastructure near the Finnish border. Scandinavian countries, like the former captive nations of Russian subjugation, have been especially concerned by the Kremlin’s actions.

Moscow has previously said such deployments were a response to Finland’s and Sweden’s accession to NATO. According to him, Russia’s plan is to build a base that can house 80,000 soldiers when the war in Ukraine is over. “We don't believe they exist just for show. It's about being able to face NATO in a larger conflict later on,” Nilsson said.

Russia has repeatedly criticized both countries’ decision to join the alliance.

Sweden has remained one of Ukraine’s key European partners since Russia’s full-scale invasion. On June 18, Stockholm announced an additional $108 million in military aid through the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative alongside additional assistance pledged by Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands.

The problem rests with Russia and not with any of its leaders regardless of the color.  It is essential for the leaders of the free world to keep their eyes peeled and their fingers on the ready. 

Washington should Adopt Patton’s Plan for Vanquishing Russia

Despite Russia’s thunderous claims of superiority against Ukrainian Armed Forces, military analysts believe that opposite is true.

While the Kremlin continues to loudly “beat its war drums” and project an image of an inevitable victory, the underlying reality reveals a deeply strained, costly, and gridlocked campaign. Additionally, its key cities such as Moscow and Petersburg, energy facilities, and ground forces are suffering as a result of Ukrainians’ successful drone strikes.

Consequently, the situation can be broken down into a few distinct dynamics:

Vladimir Putin’s public strategy relies heavily on maintaining a constructed reality for domestic and international audiences, presenting Russia’s maximalist goals as entirely on track. However, the operational reality on the ground tells a very different story:  

· Marginal Gains at High Cost: Over the past year, Russian forces have only managed to capture tiny fractions of Ukrainian territory – often measured in just a few dozen square miles over entire months – despite launching relentless, grinding offensives.  

· Massive Troop Losses: The Kremlin is reportedly forced to recruit roughly 30,000 new soldiers a month just to break even against staggering casualty rates, frequently deploying undertrained recruits into highly lethal frontline conditions. According to Ukrainian sources: Russia lost 1.3 million soldiers.

· Internal Corrosion: Reports of widespread corruption, localized insubordination, and logistical breakdowns indicate that the Russian military machine is being eaten away from the inside, even as official propaganda demands total confidence.  

Ukraine is also bringing the war home to Russia. The illusion of safety that the Kremlin tries to maintain for its own citizens is increasingly fracturing. The massive overnight wave of over 400 Ukrainian drones hitting 18 different Russian regions – including a major strike right on the approaches to Moscow today – demonstrates that Russia is entirely unable to insulate itself from the consequences of the conflict. Strikes targeting critical Russian infrastructure, military development plants, and supply depots are causing visible disruptions, fuel shortages, and an undeniable psychological toll on the Russian home front.

Putin has also pledged that he would beef up security to reduce death and destruction in the motherland, which sets him open to additional animosity when he fails on this account.

Putin cannot afford to stop beating the drums because his political survival depends on it. Acknowledging a stalemate or an outright failure would threaten the stability of his regime. By projecting absolute certainty, rejecting tactical realities, and counting on long-term Western fatigue, the Kremlin is trying to outlast Ukraine’s resolve. Realistically, that’s a difficult gamble. Russians’ can read the truth everywhere due to the Internet. Even Russian comedians are openly laughing at Putin’s failure.

Ultimately, while Russia is far from achieving its original objectives and is visibly burning through its economic and human resources, Putin is deeply committed to a war of attrition, choosing to escalate the rhetoric rather than confront their severe strategic vulnerabilities. This policy will continue regardless of what President Trump believes about ending ths war.

This reminds me of famous quotes by Gen. George S. Patton stated at the end of World War Two, which expressed his fierce opposition to the Soviet Russia and his belief that a clash with Moscow was inevitable.

1. “The Wrong Enemy”

In a letter home dated July 21, 1945, Patton wrote critically of the post-war division of Europe:   

“We have destroyed what could have been a good race and we are about to replace them with the Mongolian savage and all Europe with Communism.”   

This sentiment was often summarized in his private circles as, “We defeated the wrong enemy.”   

2. Predictions on a Future War with Russia

Patton explicitly urged his superiors—including General Dwight D. Eisenhower—to let him push further east or prepare for an immediate conflict before the Red Army could solidify its grip on Eastern Europe. He warned: “Someday we will have to fight them and it will take six years and cost us six million lives.   

3. Arguing for Immediate Conflict

During an exchange with underlings and fellow commanders regarding the potential political fallout of provoking the Soviets, Patton reportedly argued that the US military would never be in a stronger position than it was right at that moment:

“We promised the Europeans freedom. It would be worse than dishonorable not to see they have it. This might mean war with the Russians, but what of it? They have no Air Force anymore, their gasoline supplies are low, and they have no infrastructure... Let’s kick their asses and go home.”   

Patton viewed the Stalin’s Soviet Russian regime as fundamentally brutal and untrustworthy. Putin’s regime is no less brutal than Stalin’s. Patton’s suggestion must be taken into account today as Moscow’s war against Ukraine, beginning with the annexation of Crimea and the invasion of the Donbas, has already significantly outlasted World War II.