After the Soviet Union won the defense of Moscow, the German generals vigorously exaggerated the merits of the "Winter General", claiming that the cold winter saved the Soviet Union. Although this remark is obviously a throwing pot argument, the cold winter did give the Soviet Union some help.
Although Russia is not the Soviet Union today, General Winter seems to be looking after Russia again.
Weather forecasts show that from next week, the extremely cold weather will gradually spread to western Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia, Romania and other countries, and further expand to Central and Southern Europe. In other words, most of the European countries involved in sanctions against Russia are unable to escape the attack of a strong cold wave.
Europe, which was heavily dependent on Russian gas, is a rare warm winter this winter, and as winter draws to an end, European countries seem to believe that they can endure Russia's "gas outage" threat by gritting their teeth. However, man is not as good as heaven, and a powerful cold wave will sweep through Eastern Europe.
For the Russian army, which is fighting in Ukraine, the arrival of a strong cold wave has advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, the flesh is afraid of cold after all, and the arrival of a strong cold wave will also cause a blow to the soldiers; on the other hand, the cold wave delays the thawing of Ukraine and prevents the Russian mechanized troops from quickly falling into the mud.
The cold wave is not necessarily a bad thing for the Russian army, but some in Europe this time there are bitterness. On the one hand, the EU's natural gas reserves are running out, on the other hand, the price of natural gas in Europe has soared, and has exceeded 2400 US dollars / thousand cubic meters. Europe is afraid that it is necessary to consider whether sanctions against Russia are more important, or whether it is more important to eat and warm.
After the war between Russia and Ukraine, the "anti-Russian wave" in Europe seems to be more violent than in the United States, but there is no doubt that regardless of the outcome of the war, the EU will become the biggest loser after Ukraine. Even more embarrassing for Europe, Ukraine seems to be holding the EU and NATO hostage.
Hearing that Shell had secretly bought Russian oil, the Ukrainian foreign minister accused: "Don't you smell Ukrainian blood in Russian oil?" All multinational commercial companies are called upon to cut ties with Russia. "Since Ukraine condemns Shell for purchasing Russian oil, once the EU buys Russian gas, it will inevitably be attacked by the Ukrainian government."
At the instigation of public opinion, most of the European people are on the side of the Ukrainian government, and the EU will face a major problem: is it really necessary to listen to the Ukrainian command to refuse Russian gas?
Of course, the EU is not desperate on the issue of energy supply, it is really not possible, the EU can also spend a high price to buy natural gas from the United States. But as Zelenskiy tried to drag NATO into war, the EU had to be wary.
NATO made it clear that it was unwilling to send troops to Ukraine, and Zelenskiy did indeed accuse NATO of standing idly by. After NATO refused to establish a no-fly zone in Ukraine, Zelenskiy denounced: "From today on, all those who die are because of you, because of your weakness, because of your disunity".
Zelenskiy tried to force NATO to go to war with Russia, and once NATO joined the war, the first to be hit were the European countries. It was at this time that putin's deterrence escalated again.
Putin stressed that any attempt by any country to establish a no-fly zone in Ukraine is regarded as a war against Russia. Since Putin dares to take military action against Ukraine, he may not have the courage to go to war against NATO, which either makes up its mind to go to war with the Russian military or should not challenge Russia's bottom line.
In addition, Putin also said that sanctions against Russia are equivalent to declaring war, but Russia has not yet begun to counteract, and countries that impose sanctions on Russia in the aviation field will suffer their own consequences.
Putin has always dared to say and do it, and if this war does not completely crush Russia, the countries and entities that impose sanctions on Russia are afraid that they will have to meet Russia's retaliation.
For now, Russia's retaliation is mainly against the United States, the European Union and Ukraine. Russia's retaliation against the United States is difficult to predict, retaliation against the European Union is likely to be in the field of energy, as for Ukraine, which is being hit by the Russian military, what kind of fate it will eventually accept is not optimistic.
According to Putin, Russia does not seek to occupy Ukraine, but only "de-Narazification and demilitarization" of Ukraine. Putin's latest warning to Ukraine, however, hints of danger.
According to the report.az website, Putin said on Saturday that the current leadership in Kiev must understand that if it continues in the same spirit, then the question of Ukraine's future national status will arise.
After Putin declared the independence of Luhansk and Donetsk, Putin gave a "history lesson" to the public, directly denying Ukraine's sovereignty, which makes people wonder what Russia's real goal is. Is it necessary to make Ukraine no longer a country?