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| REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko |
Russia's biggest air strikes against Ukraine since the start of the war killed at least 19 people, drove thousands of Ukrainians back into air raid shelters and knocked out electricity in hundreds of towns and villages.
The strikes - denounced in the West for deliberately hitting civilian targets - have been hailed by hawks in Moscow as a turning point that demonstrates Russia's resolve in what it calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine.
But Western military analysts say the strikes came at a staggering cost, depleted a dwindling supply of long-range missiles, hit no major military targets and are unlikely to change the course of a war going badly for Moscow.
"Russia lacks the missiles to mount attacks of this sort often, as it is running out of stocks and the Ukrainians are claiming a high success rate in intercepting many of those already used," wrote Lawrence Freedman, emeritus professor of war studies at King's College London.
"This is not therefore a new war-winning strategy but a sociopath's tantrum."
HOW ARE THE ATTACKS PORTRAYED IN RUSSIA?
President Vladimir Putin described the strikes as a response to what he called terrorist attacks by Ukraine, including a blast on Sunday that damaged Russia's bridge to Crimea, which it built after annexing the peninsula it seized in 2014.
Hawks in Russia had been demanding for weeks that Putin escalate the conflict, and many of them hailed Monday's attacks. --->READ MORE HERE
Ukraine claimed Wednesday that it shot down at least four Russian helicopters — possibly Ka-52s nicknamed “Alligators” — in a span of just 18 minutes.
“From 08:40 to 08:58 on October 12, anti-aircraft missile units of the Air Force destroyed at least four enemy attack helicopters (probably Ka-52s), which were providing fire support to the ground occupation forces in the southern direction,” the air force said on its Telegram channel.
According to preliminary reports, one of the downed choppers crashed in an unspecified part of southern Ukraine that had been recently reclaimed by Kyiv’s forces from the Russians, while the other three landed somewhere behind the front line.
The air force also revealed that Ukrainian forces fired on two more Russian helicopters, so it’s possible the number of downed aircraft will increase. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to +++++relevant+++++ and related stories:
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