Today's D Brief: Missiles barrage Kyiv, again; Congress passes NDAA; Israel eyes ‘long’ Gaza war; F-35 parts shortage; And a bit more.
Defense OneJUL 2023
Ukraine Hit by 'One of the Highest-Impact' Cyber Attacks of the War
Image copyright: Global Images Ukraine/Getty Images News [via Getty Images]
The Spin
Pro-Russia narrative
As this stalemate continues to drag on, with Ukraine nowhere close to achieving the goals the West claimed were plausible, it would be wrong not to mention the attempted peace negotiations of March 2022. Almost two years ago, Russia was prepared to end this conflict so long as Kyiv agreed not to join NATO; unfortunately, Western countries like Britain blocked those talks. Moscow is still prepared to go to the table with Kyiv, but for that to happen, Western leaders who know the behind-the-scenes truth must bring it to light and stop throwing a wrench in the potential progress.
Anti-Russia narrative
While Russia pretends to be the honest, anti-war party whose peace-seeking endeavors are being quashed by the evil West, the truth is that there is no historical precedent to back up its claims. Russia promised in the 90s not to invade Ukraine, and then did so by invading Crimea 17 years later. It also promised to stay out of other Eastern European regions before sending troops to Moldova and Georgia. More recently, Russia has meddled in Western politics and elections — how, after all that, could Kyiv and its allies trust Moscow to stand by its latest "promise?"