“It was important for Russia to demonstrate that it is capable of responding to such threats to its very important facilities,” he said.īut for Kovalenko, it is clear: there is no military logic to the strikes: “There is no logic to strike in order to gain some advantage in the tactical and strategic balance of forces in the war zone. Kovalenko believes that Russia tried to take revenge on Ukraine for the explosion on the Kerch bridge with Monday’s strikes. In Ukraine, Russians have targeted not only infrastructure facilities, but also playgrounds, museums and educational institutions. According to military experts, it made it difficult to supply Russian troops in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.
The explosion on the Crimean bridge was of military and strategic importance for Ukraine. In this case, of course, the power system may suffer, but it is almost impossible to completely disable it.” The question is whether Russia will continue to deliver such strikes. I think that everything that happened on Monday is fixable. At least a few strikes are needed for the damage to be serious. In order to completely cut down an energy enterprise, for example, a thermal power plant, it must be severely destroyed. “The fact that key infrastructure facilities are damaged does not mean that they are completely out of order,” says military expert Fedorov. “The danger is that, in addition to strikes on large energy facilities, there is massive damage to substations,” said Korolchuk. “This is the first missile attack of this magnitude on the Ukrainian energy system,” commented Yuriy Korolchuk, an analyst at the Institute for Strategic Studies.Īccording to his estimates, it may take several days to deal with the consequences, during which rolling blackouts are possible, primarily for businesses, in order to serve the population and water utilities. According to the National Police of Ukraine, in total, about 70 objects were damaged, of which 29 were critical infrastructure, 4 multi-story and 35 private residential buildings, as well as a school in the capital. The question lingers after scenes of bloodshed in cities far from the front line: was there a strategic rationale behind the strikes? And will October 10 represent the beginning to a new phase of the war.Įnergy infrastructure facilities were the main targets of missile strikes. "It simply will not be able to overcome a one-time blow of that magnitude.” “Russia will not be able to repeat that," he said. Still, Ukrainian military expert Oleksandr Kovalenko put the strikes into perspective, saying that no attack could be as strong as those of Feb. “This is perhaps the most massive blow to Ukraine since the beginning of the war,” says Russian military expert Yuri Fedorov. Indeed, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia had two goals: energy facilities and people. Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage.īut it was clear from the beginning that the strikes also struck residential buildings, civilians and vehicles, which the United Nations warned may amount to a war crime.
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