Russia's barrage of some 80 missiles against Ukraine Monday is viewed by military experts as a risky gamble.
Though Russian ultra-nationalists welcomed the onslaught ordered by Dictator Vladimir Putin, military observers say that Putin is squandering his missiles on low-value civilian targets -- missiles that will then be unavailable for the defense of Russian forces on the eastern and southern fronts.
Western intelligence, according to the Institute for the Study of War, believes that Putin has already used up a substantial percentage of his missile stock, a point underscored by the fact that defensive missiles have been stripped from St. Petersburg for use as offensive weapons on the Ukraine front. In particular, it is believed he is running low on advanced high-precision missiles.
But, Gen. Sergei Surovikin, a general with experience in air force command, seems to be targeting Ukraine's power plants in hopes of weakening the civilian populace's ability to carry on and to prevent Ukraine's defense industries from operating. Yet there is some doubt as to whether such a maneuver will suffice to prevent Ukraine forces from inflicting further defeats on Putin's harried remaining ground forces in Ukraine.
Putin rationalized his missile barrage on ground that the Ukrainians were infinging on “Russian” territory — meaning the areas of east and south Ukraine that he has just annexed, along with Crimea, which was seized from Ukraine in 2014.
Surovkin's appointment Saturday as the Ukraine front commander is seen as a victory for the militarists who have been badgering Putin to conduct a more aggressive campaign. On the other hand a target of the hawks' ire, Defense Minister Sergei Kuzhugetovich Shoigu, was shown attending a meeting of Putin's security council, implying that he has not yet been removed from office.
The missile barrage -- with more such pledged by Putin front-man Dmitry Medvedev -- is viewed by pro-war military bloggers as proper payback. But these hawks, who had become openly critical of Putin and his top sidekicks, are insufficiently alert to the gamble of such spectacular displays. During World War II, British analysts were secretly satisfied that Hitler was pouring so many resources into the V2 rockets that inflicted indiscriminate damage on British cities because he was diverting resources from the program to build militarily useful Messerschmit fighter planes.
While a severe response from Russia had been widely anticipated following explosions that caused the partial collapse of the bridge linking it to Crimea, the bombing of Ukraine's capital appeared to bear all the hallmarks of Surovikin.
Ukraine authorities reported that 84 cruise missiles and 24 "kamikaze" drones were launched at Ukraine on Oct. 10, of which 43 missiles and 13 drones were shot down.
At least 105 persons were reported injured, and 19 others were killed, authorities said. Hit were 117 different sites around the country, dozens of which were residential, Ukraine said, adding that eleven "critical infrastructure" sites were reportedly struck.
Power outages occurred across the country and in the capital, and residents were asked to reduce electricity consumption while government workers repaired power grids. Ukraine was also forced to stop exporting electricity to Europe in order to stabilize its own grid after the strikes hit Ukrainian power plants.
From Sky News, we learn,
Sky News and the Kyiv Independent were sources of some information in the report above.
Though Russian ultra-nationalists welcomed the onslaught ordered by Dictator Vladimir Putin, military observers say that Putin is squandering his missiles on low-value civilian targets -- missiles that will then be unavailable for the defense of Russian forces on the eastern and southern fronts.
But, Gen. Sergei Surovikin, a general with experience in air force command, seems to be targeting Ukraine's power plants in hopes of weakening the civilian populace's ability to carry on and to prevent Ukraine's defense industries from operating. Yet there is some doubt as to whether such a maneuver will suffice to prevent Ukraine forces from inflicting further defeats on Putin's harried remaining ground forces in Ukraine.
Putin rationalized his missile barrage on ground that the Ukrainians were infinging on “Russian” territory — meaning the areas of east and south Ukraine that he has just annexed, along with Crimea, which was seized from Ukraine in 2014.
Surovkin's appointment Saturday as the Ukraine front commander is seen as a victory for the militarists who have been badgering Putin to conduct a more aggressive campaign. On the other hand a target of the hawks' ire, Defense Minister Sergei Kuzhugetovich Shoigu, was shown attending a meeting of Putin's security council, implying that he has not yet been removed from office.
The missile barrage -- with more such pledged by Putin front-man Dmitry Medvedev -- is viewed by pro-war military bloggers as proper payback. But these hawks, who had become openly critical of Putin and his top sidekicks, are insufficiently alert to the gamble of such spectacular displays. During World War II, British analysts were secretly satisfied that Hitler was pouring so many resources into the V2 rockets that inflicted indiscriminate damage on British cities because he was diverting resources from the program to build militarily useful Messerschmit fighter planes.
While a severe response from Russia had been widely anticipated following explosions that caused the partial collapse of the bridge linking it to Crimea, the bombing of Ukraine's capital appeared to bear all the hallmarks of Surovikin.
Ukraine authorities reported that 84 cruise missiles and 24 "kamikaze" drones were launched at Ukraine on Oct. 10, of which 43 missiles and 13 drones were shot down.
At least 105 persons were reported injured, and 19 others were killed, authorities said. Hit were 117 different sites around the country, dozens of which were residential, Ukraine said, adding that eleven "critical infrastructure" sites were reportedly struck.
Power outages occurred across the country and in the capital, and residents were asked to reduce electricity consumption while government workers repaired power grids. Ukraine was also forced to stop exporting electricity to Europe in order to stabilize its own grid after the strikes hit Ukrainian power plants.
From Sky News, we learn,
A military veteran who served in the Soviet Union's ultimately doomed war with Afghanistan during the 1980s, the 55-year-old Surovikin is infamous for ordering troops to open fire on pro-democracy protesters in Moscow, when three persons were killed during the final days of the Soviet Union in 1991.
He went on to lead Russian forces' intervention during the Syrian War in 2017.
Surovikin is accused of complicity in the indiscriminate bombing of opposition fighters and of overseeing chemical weapon attacks, in a campaign thought to have been pivotal in helping Syria's government regain control over most of the country.
The consensus among experts is that Putin's decision to have Surovikin take charge of Russia's forces in Ukraine is a direct result of his reputation for ruthlessness and brutality. [Even so, the previous commander, Gen. Aleksandr Dvornikov also was known as a ruthless man, having earned the sobriquet "the butcher of Syria." Following Russia's disastrous rollback, Dvornikov was placed in charge of army logistics.]
Surovikin is seen as an ally of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder and head of the shadowy Wagner mercenary group, which is believed to have been active for Russia in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
He has been among the most prominent hawkish critics of Russia's defense ministry while demanding an escalation of the conflict from Moscow.
"Prigozhin gave Surovikin a thumbs up on his Telegram [messaging app] channel over the weekend," one observer noted.
Sky News and the Kyiv Independent were sources of some information in the report above.
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