Is it real concern about Ukrainian attacks? Or is it more to reinforce patriotic feelings? According to the British Defense Ministry, the Russians are strengthening their "self-defense units" on the border and in the Belgorod region.

According to British intelligence services, Russia has recently begun to expand its positions along the international border with Ukraine and in the Belgorod region. As reported by the Ministry of Defense in London, the governor of Belgorod announced on Tuesday that he would set up local "self-defense units". According to the British, there have been reports of digging of trenches in Belgorod since at least April 2022. This time, however, the new systems will probably be more sophisticated systems to defend against Ukrainian attacks.

According to the British, "there is a realistic possibility" that the Russian authorities will encourage defense preparations within Russian territory "to arouse patriotic feelings". However, this is probably also evidence of the real - albeit false - assumption by some Russian decision-makers that there is a credible threat from Ukrainian forces.

"The lack of strategic assessment is one of the critical weaknesses in the central Russian government architecture, as shown by Russia's original decision to invade Ukraine," the British continue. "Impartial official analysis is certainly often undermined by a tendency toward groupthink and politically expedient conclusions."

There have been several drone attacks on Russian military bases in the past few days. Russia blames Kyiv, but has not yet commented on the incidents. The US said it neither encouraged nor enabled Kyiv to attack Russia. Meanwhile, the Kremlin announced that it would take "necessary" measures to protect the country from Ukrainian attacks.