The Daily Signal - Victor Davis Hanson: Ukraine's Blitz Launches War in Dangerous New Direction

Episode Date: June 11, 2025

After more than three years of bloody stalemate, Ukraine has launched unprecedented strikes deep into Russian territory—destroying nearly a third of Russia’s strategic bomber fleet and targeting the crucial Kerch Bridge to Crimea. Now, Trump’s peace push may now be stalled—not by Ukraine, but by Putin himself. With over $400 billion in Western aid already spent and millions of lives disrupted, is the war entering a more dangerous phase? Victor Davis Hanson examines this latest development on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words.” “ Just when we thought the war might have some type of conciliation or armistice, Ukraine struck in a way that it had never done before and it was very effective. “  There was a drone attack on the Kerch Bridge, that only link, really, that's accessible for easy transport from mainland Russia into the Crimea. It's essential. … It shows you that Ukraine is now kind of having a turtle strategy. It's not going to waste its limited manpower slugging it out. But it's going to use drones and it's going to make over a million of them.” 👉 This episode is sponsored by the Pepperdine School of Public Policy. Learn more: https://go.pepperdine.edu/dailysignal 👉Don’t miss out on Victor’s latest videos by subscribing to The Daily Signal today. You’ll be notified every time a new piece of content drops: https://youtube.com/dailysignal?sub_confirmation=1    👉If you can’t get enough of Victor Davis Hanson from The Daily Signal, subscribe to his official YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/victordavishanson7273    👉He’s also the host of “The Victor Davis Hanson Show,” available wherever you prefer to watch or listen. Links to the show and exclusive content are available on his website: https://victorhanson.com  (0:00) Overview of the Ukraine War (1:44) Analysis of the Ukraine War (5:04) Ukraine's New Strategy and Implications (8:24) Conclusion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Let's look at an update of the Ukraine war. Remember, it's now gone on for over three years, and we had pretty much discussed the contours of the fight. Russia has now controlled about 20% of Ukrainian territory, and it's using its enormous advantage in manpower to grind down the Ukrainians. The general consensus was Zelensky was being unrealistic. He was counting on more than the $400 billion dollars

from the EU and the United States and NATO powers to continue the fight. We were in a stalemate, and Trump so sort of pivoted and said now not Zelensky was unwilling to make a deal, but actually it was Putin. And then something happened this week. Just when we thought the war might have some type of conciliation or armist, Ukraine struck in a way that it had never done before, and it was very effective. At Desjardin, we speak business. We speak startup funding and comprehensive game plans. We've mastered made to measure growth and expense.

attention advice, and we can talk your ear off about transferring your business when the time comes. Because at Desjardin business, we speak the same language you do. Business. So join the more than 400,000 Canadian entrepreneurs who already count on us and contact Desjardin today. We'd love to talk, business. Hello, this is Victor Davis-Hanson for the Daily Signal. Let's look at an update of the Ukraine War. Remember, it's now gone on for over three years, and we had pretty much discussed the contours of the fight. Russia has now controlled about 20% of Ukrainian territory, and it's using its enormous advantage in manpower, GDP, 10 times the GDP, four times of manpower, 30 times the

territory to grind down the Ukrainians, which have been slowly withdrawing net withdraws. This is in addition to Crimea and Dombas that the Russians already had annexed. The general consensus was that Zelensky was being unrealistic. He was counting on more than the $400 billion from the EU and the United States and NATO powers to continue the fight with the express purpose of gaining not just territory taken by Russia in 2022, but also what was taken during the Obama administration, the entire Donbass and the entire Crimea. And the Trump administration had said this is unrealistic. This is 1.5 billion, excuse me, 1.5 million dead and wounded.

It's Stalingrad. It's the Somme. It's for done. We got to have some kind of peace to stop this slaughter, this caldron of death on the doorstep of Europe. Ukraine has pretty much given up the idea that it can win a slug fest with Russia. Russia on the ground. Its army is pretty much static. The average age is up into the 30s of recruits. About 10 to 12 million people have left Ukraine. So its problem is not technology. It's not weaponry. It's not money. It's manpower.

So that was pretty much what we saw. And the Trump administration was basically saying what the world did to General Minerheim, the heroic Phen, in 1939. that withdrewed a Soviet invasion that wanted to absorb 10 to 15% of Finland. He fought for four months. And then finally, Mannerheim said, I can't resist this juggernaut. I'll cut a deal with Stalin. Give him 11%. Promise not to use Finland to launch attacks on the future on Russia. And he saved modern-day Finland for what it is now.

So people had sort of said that paradigm might work that Zelensky could get real and give up idea of getting back the Donbass and the Crimea not stay and not get into NATO and might you have it might have a deal. But the problem was Donald Trump, who pursued pursued that line of peace negotiations, found out that Vladimir Putin cannot take that back, apparently, after he started this insane war, until the oligarchs, I reified the fact that we have Donbass and Crimea. I went in a few miles into Ukraine. I expanded on it. Maybe we now. Maybe we now. have 20% of Ukraine and they won't be a NATO and we're going to have a ceasefire. They said, you did, that's all you got?

And you lost a million Russians? Dead wounded? No, no. So then we were in a stalemate and Trump sort of pivoted and said now not Zelenskyy was unwilling to make a deal, but actually it was Putin. And then something happened this week. Two things happened. A brilliant Ukrainian strategy of bringing by truck stealthily. drones into the remote parts of Russia.

Some of them are 2,500 miles away, Arctic bases, strategic bases that Russia counts on for the delivery of nuclear weapons and cruise missiles. And they have been used against Ukraine, Tupilov bombers. And lo and behold, they launched this stealthy raid by drones, and we've never seen anything like it in military history. it destroyed 30 to 35% of the Russian strategic bomber fleet, $7 billion, 41 of these huge planes, some of them were sort of intelligence planes as well. And then following up, there was a drone attack on the Kerch Bridge, that only link really that's successful for easy transport from mainland Russia into the Crimea. It's essential.

Now, the bridge will probably be repaired. But what are I getting at? It shows you that Ukraine is now kind of having a turtle strategy. It's not going to waste its limited manpower, slugging it out, but it's going to use drones, and it's going to make over a million of them. And they are the cutting edge of inexpensive, effective drone fabricators, producers, and the world. They're going to attack targets deep in Russia. Is that going to bring Putin to the table?

I don't know. Strategically, it's justified to show Putin he could lose all. of his bomber fleet because it's not just that they destroyed 41 bombers, but there is no deterrent. So Putin and the Russian military are thinking, if they destroyed a third, what's stopping two-thirds? The whole thing. How do we stop this? And who got them that close to be launched? And do we have enemies in our military?

What's going on? So it was very effective. But the point I'm making is there's going to be a retaliation. And there were certain rules in the Cold War that the two superpower rivals that were nuclear did not use a proxy to attack the homeland of another. So imagine if during this Cuban missile crisis, Fidel Castro launched missiles that took out a third of our B-52 fleet, we wouldn't just go after Castro. We would say to the Russians, you broke the rules. You are attacking the American homeland using a proxy. I don't know if that rule still applies, but what I'm getting at is, while we all applaud Ukraine for doing something that was strategically necessary, geostrategically, it opens a new phase of the war, and Russia is going to retaliate, and it's talking about a type of retaliation we haven't seen before. I'll leave it at that. But just when we thought the war might have some type of conciliation or armist, Ukraine's strong.

struck in a way that it had never done before and it was very effective. And we applaud that, but it's going to earn a counter response that could lead to a cycle of escalation that could be very dangerous, not just for Ukraine, but for NATO in general and the United States in particular. Thank you very much. This is Victor Davis-Hanson for the Daily Signal. Thank you for tuning in to the Daily Signal. Please like, share, and subscribe to be notified for more content like this. You can also check out my own website at victorhansen.com and subscribe for exclusive features in addition.