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| Photo: STRINGER/REUTERS |
Military analysts say strikes from the air alone seldom change the course of war
Russia’s assault Monday with dozens of missile strikes on Ukrainian cities and their electricity infrastructure showed Moscow’s ability to hit targets across the entire country. But it also made clear the limits of such tactics in advancing Russia’s war aims.
Ukraine said its air defenses had intercepted roughly half of the 84 missiles that Russia fired in salvos, a number that couldn’t be independently verified. Authorities said 11 people were killed in the strikes and more than 80 injured as missiles hit apartment blocks, power stations and other targets.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the attacks were in response to a weekend explosion on the Kerch Strait Bridge linking Russia to Russian-occupied Crimea, something Moscow has described as an act of terrorism by Ukraine.
They come as Russian troops have lost ground to Ukrainian forces in the east and the south of the country, areas that Mr. Putin now asserts are Russian territory. Mr. Putin said the targets were “Ukrainian energy, military command and communications facilities.”
“What they seem to have done today, which is basically hitting civilian targets and infrastructure, seems to be much more about signaling on their part than delivering any real military effect,” said Sidharth Kaushal, a researcher at the Royal United Services Institute, a think tank in London.
Mr. Kaushal said that it appeared the damage “though it’s tragic, is actually not of any real military value, and they’ve expended quite an expensive capability.” --->READ MORE HERE
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| AP Photo |
The brazen attack partially destroying a crucial bridge linking Russia to occupied Crimea on Saturday is the latest evidence that Vladimir Putin and his generals dramatically overestimated the capabilities of their armed forces.
They’re not alone.
Even U.S. government officials and intelligence agencies now admit they thought Russia had such an advantage in manpower and weaponry that there was little Ukraine could do to defend itself after Mr. Putin ordered a full-scale invasion more than seven months ago.
But a series of top-down tactical blunders, strategic misfires and pervasive corruption among Russian military leaders that has left soldiers ill-equipped and undertrained have all combined to flip the script. Mr. Putin‘s plan to teach Ukraine a lesson and send a message to NATO and his Western critics has instead served only to expose the weaknesses of his own military force, despite a vaunted campaign since the beginning of the century to rebuild and modernize the Russian armed forces.
Even a two-day barrage of cruise missile and drone attacks unleashed by Russian forces on Ukrainian cities across the country — ordered by Mr. Putin in response to the bridge sabotage — are not changing expert opinion about the subpar showing of Russian forces to date.
“Russia‘s forces are exhausted. The use of prisoners to reinforce, and now the mobilization of tens of thousands of inexperienced conscripts, speaks of a desperate situation,” Jeremy Fleming, head of the secretive GCHQ, Britain’s intelligence, cyber and security agency, said in a rare public address to a London think tank Tuesday. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to +++++relevant+++++ and related stories:
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