Russian Imperialism Prepares its Winter Offensive on Ukraine

Featured image: Putin and Trump shaking hands at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson on Aug. 15, 2025 in Anchorage, Alaska. Source: Getty Images

On October 9, the US unilaterally lifted its sanctions on Russian oil in an aim to lower the ever increasing price of diesel. This comes amid the fuel crisis of Yankee imperialism, caused by the failed war of aggression on Iran and the subsequent blockade of the Hormuz strait and the vast energy infrastructure damage in the Gulf region – compounded by Russia’s decision to halt exports of diesel after Ukrainian strikes on vital energy infrastructure. Russian imperialism enters this deal seeking to expand its trade as an attempt to overcome some of the limitations that its relatively weak economic foundations impose on it, with the immediate purpose of filling its war coffers for its upcoming winter offensive in its war of aggression on Ukraine.

As the fourth year of the war of aggression on Ukraine by Russian imperialism nears its end, Russia is setting its aims on an intensive winter campaign, eager to convert their territorial gains on the now stagnant front lines into concrete concessions. Their aim is, as they have during every winter campaign in Ukraine, to make life during the cold winters of Ukraine unbearable for the Ukrainian people by targeting the main source of heating in the region, in an attempt at pressing their demands. Already in late September, Russia started heavily targeting energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s industrial east. In response, Ukraine has struck vital Russian oil refineries, prompting an export ban on diesel by Russia in order to maintain war preparedness and ensure energy supply in its offensive on the Ukrainian people.

Despite the concerns of Russian imperialism that attacks on its energy infrastructure might clog up its war efforts, throughout the Yankee imperialist war of aggression on Iran it stands ready to fulfill orders of shipments of oil and gas to the highest bidders when their imperialist competitors need to turn elsewhere for their energy needs.

Russia also seeks to take advantage of the firm ground that develops during the latter half of the winter season in Ukraine, putting an end to the so-called “rasputitsa” (mud-season), which makes traversal for armored vehicles much easier. This was also exploited during the winter campaign of Russian imperialism of 2025-2026 to intensify its armored assaults in Donetsk.

It is worth noting that despite fielding the fourth largest standing army in the world, Russian imperialism has after four years not been able to achieve its goals, and have found itself stuck in a quagmire on the Ukrainian front. As the front lines of the Russian offense have remained stagnant for the last year or so, Russian imperialism is slowly making the realization of other imperialist powers – that they cannot impose their will on the oppressed nations in the same way as before.

Here you can read our translation of a Punalippu article, detailing the recent attacks on Russian energy infrastucture:

Over the past week, the Trump regime has put pressure on Ukraine to stop targeting Russian oil refineries, citing concerns over the US diesel prices. In the same vein, on October 2, after an announcement by Emmanuel Macron, the imperialist powers of the G7 are now to release 100 million barrels of their emergency diesel and crude oil on the global market. The decision to release these 100 million barrels, was made directly after threats by Trump to halt the US export of diesel in an attempt to keep internal US prices low. In addition to the March decision by the International Energy Agency (IEA) to release 400 million out of their total 1,2 billion barrels of crude oil – the largest such release in history – this makes for a significant dent in the emergency reserves of the imperialist powers, forcing temporary trade agreements and alliances to shift in order to maneuver the ever decreasing supply of oil.

Zelensky Continues to Sell Out the Resisting People of Ukraine

It is not only the front lines of the war of aggression on Ukraine that remains unchanged, so does the country-selling character of the lackey Zelensky, who, as his people lay their lives on the line in defense of their land and freedom, continue to sell the resources of the Ukrainian people into the hands of imperialists.

On October 4, 15 arms deals were made with arms monopolies and contractors in Germany worth 8,5 billion EUR, including “counter‑drone capabilities – interceptors and small missiles, radars, UGVs, and artillery.” The funding for these deals is mainly the European Union (EU) loan of 90 billion EUR from April 23, 2026, as well as loans from the G7 Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) of 33,8 billion EUR, the World Bank loan of around 20 billion EUR, and 12,9 billion EUR from the IMF – increasing the foreign debt of the Ukrainian government from around 86 billion EUR at the end of 2021, to 210 billion EUR as of May 2026.

This debt comes in addition to the vast concessions made with Ukrainian resources and workforce, primarily to Yankee imperialism, but also to UK, French and German imperialism. In May 2025, a major extraction framework was laid between Zelensky and Yankee imperialism. Phrased as “reconstruction investment,” the deal lays the foundation for the extraction of vital minerals, oil and gas, and as Trump puts it himself, the “deal represents payback for the money the US has spent on the war so far.”

The so-called “100 Year Partnership” between the UK and Ukraine is another example. The “partnership,” following in the same imperialist extraction framework as with the US, ensures the advance of UK monopolies on Ukrainian land, especially in the extraction of hydrocarbons and critical minerals. In the same vein, Germany’s Rheinmetall, compounded by the recent “deals” made of mass-manufacturing drones in Ukraine, have entrenched themselves in the arms manufacture infrastructure in Ukraine through various deals. Similarly, France has several agreements ensuring their hand in the arms production of Ukraine.

This comes on top of various corruption scandals where, among other incidents, Zelensky was implicated in the infamous Pandora Papers leak, revealing the transfer of large sums of money from companies affiliated with Zelensky, to offshore companies in British Virgin Islands (BVI), Belize, and Cyprus – which also implicated the then- associates of Zelensky, head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Ivan Bakanov, and First Assistant to the President Zelensky, Serhiy Shefir. Zelensky continues to fill his own pockets and those of the compradors and oligarchs in Ukraine, and sells out the Ukrainian people and its land, in favor of foreign imperialists and the Ukrainian bourgeoisie in the service of imperialists, instead of relying on the resistance of the people.

Conclusion

Despite the treason from the supposed “leadership” of the Ukrainian national resistance, represented by the comprador and lackey Zelensky, the Ukrainian people in resistance remain steadfast, holding the line against the onslaught of Russian imperialism. Despite the planned winter offensive of Russia – and the deals made with Yankee imperialism to increase its war coffers in an attempt at pressing its demands for territorial gain – the people of Ukraine will, and must, continue the defense of their land and freedom, and in laying its lives in service of this goal, the resistance of the Ukrainian people serve in a broadening front of wars of national liberation, and in deepening the crisis of the imperialist system. It is the task of the consequent anti-imperialist to increase the support of the Ukrainian People and do all we can to assist the comrades who struggle to give proletarian leadership to a National United Front in the midst of the War of Resistance.