A jubilant mood in Russia, where Donald Trump’s return as president was seen as a prologue to Moscow’s triumph over Ukraine, has now been replaced by nervous anticipation in light of President Joe Biden’s reported approval for Kiev to launch long-range missiles . against Russian military targets.

State media talking heads initially dismissed the leak New York Times as a fake invented by ‘American propagandists’.

Kristina Busarova and Roman Guz, morning show hosts At sunrise on the Solovyov Live channel, rejoiced on Monday how dark it is in Ukraine due to Russia’s continued attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure. They gleefully described the weekend strikes as perhaps the biggest attack on Ukrainian infrastructure since the invasion began, and relished the idea of ​​extended power outages in the middle of winter.

But the joy was tempered by the news that Ukraine would finally be allowed to strike back against the invaders and their North Korean cohorts on Russian soil. Busarova complained of a “restless” night caused by the revelations from the US, but repeatedly dismissed them as a possible hoax.

With an imperialist attitude prevalent in the Russian media, Busarova repeatedly referred to Ukrainians as “the villagers” and speculated that the new reports were intended to counter their despair caused by Trump’s election victory. “The people there are just walking shadows, they are half dead, the cannon fodder that understands that they do not have long to live on Ukrainian territory,” she said. Busarova mocked President Volodymyr Zelensky’s attempts to prop up his country, claiming: “This country (Ukraine) doesn’t even exist.”

Despite persistently claiming that the country Russia invaded isn’t even real, prominent propagandists fear their neighbors’ first retaliatory long-range missile strike could target one of their studios –a concern raised on state television in October by Andrei Gurulyov, member of the State Duma.

During their show, Busarova and Guz consoled the audience by assuring them that even if this reporting was accurate, Trump will certainly revoke this authorization once he is sworn in.

The presenter of a state television program 60 minutes Olga Skabeeva went even further, claiming that Trump could ban Ukraine from attacking Russian targets with long-range missiles even now, before his presidential term officially begins. She did not explain the reasoning behind this claim, apparently believing that the rules no longer apply, and that the incoming US president has the authority to rule with an iron fist before coming to power.

Monday broadcast 60 minutes quoted Elon Musk, Donald Trump Jr. and Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who shared their outrage over the reported permission for Ukraine to use long-range missiles for its retaliatory strikes, as Moscow firmly believes that its intended victims should not be allowed to defend themselves and enjoys support from Americans who share the same warped worldview to share.

During Monday’s broadcast of The meeting placepolitical scientist Bogdan Bezpalko argued that Trump will use Biden’s reported approval of using the long-range missiles against Russian targets to deny further US aid to beleaguered Ukraine. Bezpalko speculated that Trump will tell the Ukrainian president that America has already provided all possible support and surmises: “Bro, you failed. Get out of here.”

Not a single talking head in Russia’s tightly controlled state media believes Trump will help Kiev. Instead, he believes he will help Russia consolidate its conquests and restore its dominance over Ukraine. They predict that Russia will not respond to Biden’s reported decision not to interfere with Trump’s expected efforts to resolve the conflict.

The “In Trump we trust” attitude continues to permeate Russian state media, with ongoing discussions about how much of Ukraine he is willing to hand over to the Kremlin.

Unlike Sylvester Stallone, who called Trump “the second George Washington,” Russian propagandists often call him America’s Boris Yeltsin, the last Soviet leader. They compare the current state of the United States to the final years of the Soviet Union, and openly hope that Trump will push the country over the edge — with Russia taking its place and dominating global affairs for decades to come.

They argue that the expected resolution of the Ukrainian conflict will cement Russia’s place in history as the winner, and America as the geopolitical loser, never to recover from this expected defeat.