Putin Increasingly Desperate as Kyiv Reportedly Hit By 'Kamikaze Drones'

Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely throwing a "temper tantrum" with his recent strikes against Ukraine, as Russia has recently faced a growing number of setbacks in the war, Russia experts have assessed.

On Monday morning, Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, was bombarded with drone attacks. Andriy Yermak, head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's office, said the attacks came from so-called "kamikaze drones", also known as Iranian-made Shahed drones.

The strikes came a week after Russian forces targeted the city and multiple regions nationwide, with Putin saying the attacks were in response to an October 8 explosion on the strategically vital Kerch Strait Bridge that connects Russia's mainland to the annexed Crimean Peninsula, although Kyiv has not claimed responsibility.

The attacks also come as Putin faces issues with low morale among his troops, and as he has admitted that "mistakes" have been made in his partial mobilization of Russian reserves.

Russian forces are also facing an increasingly difficult situation on the battlefield in Ukraine, notably in the south around Kherson and in the north in areas east of the Oskil river, as Ukrainian troops press on with successful counteroffensives to retake land seized throughout the war.

Max Bergmann, the director of the Europe Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), told Newsweek that he felt the latest series of strikes by Russia are largely "a degree of temper tantrum" and "a bit of a psyop" by the Russian president to try to test the will of the Ukrainian people and to "try to bring the war to Ukrainians."

"I think they're [Russia] going to they're trying to make this war as difficult and as costly as possible for the Ukrainian public," Bergmann said. "So hitting energy infrastructure ahead of winter, I think their hope is that essentially the Ukrainians are freezing. I think what's clear is that the Russians want the Ukrainians to give up."

Russian missile attacks last week struck about 30 percent of Ukraine's energy infrastructure, according to Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko. Authorities said energy facilities were also struck on Monday morning, while a drone hit a residential building, killing three people.

Bergmann also suggested that the ramped-up attacks on Ukraine could be a result of domestic pressure.

Military setbacks have sparked rare displays of criticism among Putin's top allies, including Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, and Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Russian mercenary outfit, the Wagner Group, while Ukrainian intelligence has alluded to a possible coup within the Russian military.

"I also think there's a domestic political component for Vladimir Putin. He's been getting a lot of grief from the far right, nationalists at home calling for further escalation. And so I think this is essentially him delivering the goods," he said.

Neil Melvin, Director of International Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), told Newsweek that Russian leadership, unable to respond effectively to the Ukrainian military pressure due to exhaustion, lack of fresh troops, poor morale and the effectiveness of Ukrainian attacks, is now trying to show it can hit back through targeting Ukrainian infrastructure, especially its power system ahead of the winter, and random attacks on civilian targets to undermine Ukrainian morale.

"The resort to these tactics underlines the narrowing options facing President Putin, as even this approach requires Russia to rely on drones from Iran and may not be sustainable over the medium term due to the exhaustion of Russia's missile stocks," said Melvin.

Zelensky on Monday accused Russia of "terrorizing" Ukraine's civilian population.

"The enemy can attack our cities, but it won't be able to break us. The occupiers will get only fair punishment and condemnation of future generations. And we will get victory," he said in a statement on Telegram.

Newsweek has reached out Russia's foreign ministry for comment.