Russia's massive strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure facilities and other targets on Monday and overnight into Tuesday are part of its furious response to Ukraine's incursion into Kursk, a British military analyst said in an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) on Tuesday.
Sean Bell, a retired Air Vice-Marshal, pointed out that Russia targeted Ukraine's energy facilities because winter is approaching.
"Over the last few weeks, Ukraine has taken an audacious step of doing an incursion onto Russian territory. And to date, we've not actually seen any robust Russian response to push them out. Therefore, the last couple of days of huge waves of missile and drone attacks by Russia onto Ukraine, part of that may be a degree of frustration of Russia at what Ukraine has done. Also, it does seem to be targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure. Normally you'd see that happening in the last couple of years just before winter, it gets very cold in Ukraine over winter, but this early almost certainly it's designed to take power from the defense industrial base of Ukraine because that's what's generating the drones which are proving so effective in striking Russia at the moment," Bell said.
He said Russia's military strategy following Ukraine's Kursk incursion would focus on fighting in Donbas before winter comes.
"When we first saw that incursion, we were concerned about whether this was a reckless act because Ukraine bluntly doesn't have the soldiers to spare to do this sort of attack, or was this a flash of brilliance, because it would hurt Putin where he most feels the pain. I think at the moment the jury is still out, but the fact is Ukraine made a probing attack with about 1,000 soldiers and 20 tanks. But since then, they've poured in at least 10,000 soldiers, much more material. And that will have humiliated President Putin and embarrassed him. The challenge, of course, is what does he do about it? One option is to crush it, is to move the military might of Russia in and to push the Ukrainians out. But to do that, he'd have to move military capability from the frontline in the Donbas. And that would relieve pressure on the frontline, which is probably what Ukraine is seeking to do. The alternative plan, which seems to be playing out at the moment, is Putin knows that he's now fixed over 10,000 frontline Ukrainian soldiers in a smaller area of territory and in Russia itself. Meanwhile, he focuses all his available resources at taking the bit of the Donbas that he currently doesn't have. It's only 10 to 12 weeks before winter arrives when fighting traditionally stops. And therefore he probably will make that his main effort and push hard," Bell said.
Russia launched a massive strike Monday morning with high-precision long-range air and sea-based weapons, striking at critical energy facilities that ensure the operation of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine, according to a statement from Russia’s defense ministry.
Monday's attack killed seven people and injured 47 others across Ukraine, according to Ukraine’s State Service for Emergencies.
In a second wave of strikes, Russia attacked Ukraine with 81 Shahed combat drones and 10 cruise and ballistic missiles in the early hours of Tuesday, the Ukrainian Air Force said in a statement.
The attack claimed the lives of two people and injured five others in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, where the strike hit a hotel, according to the Interior Ministry.
In the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, a man and a woman were killed and four people were wounded, according to regional governor Ivan Fedorov.
Two infrastructure facilities were hit in the eastern Kharkiv region, leaving a 41-year-old man dead and five others injured, said the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration.
About 15 drones and several Kh-101 missiles targeted the Ukrainian capital, but all air targets were intercepted, said the Kiev City Military Administration.
Russia's massive attacks on Ukraine are response to Kursk incursion: British analyst
