By John Helmer, Moscow
@bears_with
President Vladimir Putin has ordered his two spokesmen, Dmitry Peskov and Yury Ushakov, to deny Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s statement that the General Staff has been authorized to escalate war operations to regime decapitation in the Ukraine.
On Monday evening, May 25, Lavrov telephoned US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and told him he was speaking for Putin: “On behalf of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin,” the readout said, “S.V. Lavrov officially brought to the American side information that in response to the ongoing terrorist attacks of the Kiev regime against the civilian population and civilian objects on the Russian territory, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation begin systemic and consistent strikes on the facilities located in Kiev, used for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and on the relevant decision-making centres.”
Lavrov was repeating the new phrase, “systemic and consistent”, which his ministry had published in reverse order four hours earlier.
Russian “patience is exhausted,” the ministry had declared. “In this situation, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are beginning to launch consistent and systemic strikes at enterprises of the Ukrainian defence industry in Kiev, including specific facilities for designing, manufacturing and programming drones and preparing them for operation…We are urging residents of the Ukrainian capital not to approach facilities of the military and administrative infrastructure of the Zelensky regime.”
The Russian statements followed the strike over Saturday night-Sunday morning (May 23-24) by an Oreshnik missile on the Bela Tserkva airbase, south of Kiev, which doubles as an underground drone factory and a military command-control bunker. Click for a summary of local and Russian reporting of the targets.
The Oreshnik failed, according to Moscow sources.
No high-ranking casualties have been reported by either the Russian or Ukrainian media; there has been no evidence of emergency ambulance movements and medical evacuation flights taking high-ranking casualties to hospitals in Poland, Germany, or the US. There was a reported surge of medevac flights from Rzeszow, but that occurred on May 22, before the Oreshnik strike on Bela Tsekrkva.
Surface damage at Bela Tserkva recorded on social media shows no greater damage than earlier drone strikes at Bela Tserkva last August.
Former president and deputy head of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev called the Oreshnik, Iskander, Zircon and Kinzhal missile operation, including the Kiev city targets hit, a success in a strategy of persuading Ukrainian hearts and minds; this has not been publicly declared as a war aim by the Security Council before. “The ruins and gray ash on the site of their capital symbols,” Medvedev claimed, “demoralize the enemy no weaker than the loss of the battle banner.”
Lieutenant General (retired) Andrei Kartapolov, head of the State Duma Defense Committee, repeated that the weekend strikes were a new operational initiative. But he qualified the targeting: the aim, he said, is not the Ukrainian parliament Verkhovna Rada but instead “decision-making centres [which are] underground fortified [military] command and control centres…you need to understand that they are not located in the centre of Kiev. These are hidden, well-fortified points. And our task is to identify them and expose them with the help of existing weapons.”
Kartapolov added that the decision on whether this new decapitation operation now extends to Vladimir Zelensky is made by “only one person – our Supreme Commander-in-Chief”. About Putin’s decision — signed, suspended, postponed, canceled — Kartapolov said he preferred “not to engage in speculation”. This was published on the afternoon of Tuesday, May 26.
Putin had decided already to announce he didn’t mean decapitation at all.
He ordered first spokesman Peskov to deny Lavrov’s statement. “Systemic does not imply any specific frequency. It doesn’t mean regular,” Peskov announced. “In fact, the Foreign Ministry laid it all out clearly in its statement,” Peskov added, reversing what the ministry statement had said.
For the President, Peskov had more to say. “We generally prefer to achieve our goals peacefully, by diplomatic means”, he claimed on Thursday (May 28). Peskov added that Putin is looking forward to a new round of talks with Trump’s messengers, Steven Witkoff and Jared Kushner: “As soon as they are ready, we will be glad to see them and we, indeed, wait for their arrival. As soon as time allows them to do that.” By his last sentence, Peskov meant the US war against Iran.
Second spokesman Ushakov followed on May 28 with more disclaimer from Putin: “regarding [the question of] the Russian military’s shift to systematic strikes on defence industry facilities in Kiev, but has not yet received a response [from Trump]: We have issued a statement on this matter, and our recommendation has also been conveyed to the Americans through the appropriate channels. As far as I know, no response has been received yet… Russia has not conveyed any message from Russian President Vladimir Putin to US leader Donald Trump regarding the strikes on defence industry facilities in Kiev: No, no message has been conveyed.”
By the phrase “no message has been conveyed”, Ushakov meant that Lavrov had not been authorized to speak on Putin’s behalf to Rubio, as Lavrov had claimed. Ushakov’s use of the phrase “defence industry facilities” meant that he was denying that “decision-making centres” are the new targets. Out of Ushakov’s mouth, Putin is now overriding and countermanding the foreign minister and the lieutenant general speaking for the General Staff and for parliament.
This is the first time in the four years of the Special Military Operation – the first time in Lavrov’s history as foreign minister – that the Kremlin has publicly contradicted him and repudiated one of his statements. Twice over in ninety seconds.
Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s special emissary for negotiations with Witkoff and Kushner – faction leader against Lavrov, Medvedev, and the General Staff — tweeted with Putin’s authority that “if Ukraine has a critical shortage of air-defense missiles, it may be better to focus on peace than on provocations and escalation. Peace is always the best strategy.”
This is Dmitriev’s signal that Putin expects Trump to deal with Zelensky, and that Putin will not allow his General Staff to do the job for him.
No system targeting, no consistency, no frequency, no end of war before the September elections — no change.
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