Russia has recovered its terror strategy. After several weeks of relative calm in which the noise of shelling and crossfire echoed only in the front lineearly Thursday morning the Russian army launched a new massive attack with missiles and drones on Ukrainian soil. Specifically, on residential areas and critical infrastructures.
remembered missile rains that last autumn terrorized the civilian population and destroyed a large part of the country’s energy grid. The difference is that in this latest wave, the Kremlin troops have used six hypersonic missiles -known as Kinzhal or Daggers-, which is the largest display of these sophisticated weapons so far in the war.
The shells hit a dozen regions of Ukraine, including the central capital, kyivand large populations such as Kharkivto the northeast, Odessain the south, and even in Lviv, to the west, where at least five people have died, according to local authorities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky regretted that Russia has returned to its “miserable tactics” and he estimated the missiles fired by the enemy at 81 and 47 those that could not be repelled.
Russia has launched attacks on almost all regions of Ukraine with cruise and ballistic missiles. #Kiev #Kyiv #Lviv #Kharkiv#Odessa #Dnipro #Ukraine #RussiaUkraineNATO #RussiaUkraineConflict pic.twitter.com/wmm9iA13ws
— ????? ????? (@Mario_Moray) March 9, 2023
This is a much higher success rate than the most recent Russian bombings. This is due, among other things, to the fact that Russia has simultaneously attacked a wide variety of targets located in different parts of the country, some very far from the combat zones. However, the key to Russian success in this offensive lies in reality to the variety of missiles used.
“I don’t remember an attack like this,” Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Inhat said in statements to state television, noting that Moscow has not only used more weapons than usual, but has deployed part of its limited reserve of Kinzhal hypersonic missiles.
[Rusia teme que un nuevo Euromaidán en Georgia abra un inesperado frente diplomático]
These high-precision rockets, which are nuclear capable, are capable of overcoming five times the speed of sound, making them virtually undetectable to Ukrainian air defense systems. This is not the first time that Kinzhals, which are a modern variety of air-launched Iskander short-range missiles, have streaked across the skies over Ukraine.
According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a think tank Based in Washington, Russian forces first used them at the start of the war, in March, with the aim of testing them and to send a message to the West about Russian military capability. Since then there have been other rounds. In January, for example, the Ukrainian government blamed these missiles for the destruction of a residential building in Dnipro that killed 46 people.
Revenge or strategy?
However, this is the first time that so many supersonic missiles have been launched so suddenly, suggesting that the Kremlin may have launched a new air offensive strategy. His objective, however, does not seem to be too clear yet.
The Russian Defense Ministry has claimed that the massive attack on Thursday is a “reprisal” for what he considers kyiv’s “terrorist actions” in Russia’s Bryansk region last week. He refers to the alleged assault by an armed group that would have taken hostages in a village within the Russian borders and it has not been possible to confirm whether it was really an act of sabotage or a false flag attack.
Local residents stand near the remains of residential buildings destroyed by a Russian missile attack, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, near the city of Zolochiv, Lviv region.
“Long-range and high-precision air, sea and ground weapons, including the Kinzhal hypersonic missile system, hit key elements of Ukraine’s military infrastructure, enterprises of the military-industrial complex, as well as the energy facilities that serve them. “Defense said in a statement.
[¿Saboteadores o falsa bandera? Dudas sobre los ucranianos que han atacado una aldea en Rusia]
Throughout the invasion, Vladimir Putin’s troops they have taken out their frustration at military setbacks on the battlefield with attacks on the Ukrainian civilian population. and now i could be looking again to show muscle, since his troops do not achieve the long-awaited victory in Bakhmut.
However, what is disconcerting is that they have now decided to waste a missile type of which they have few units. Last November, Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikoc assured that Russia had used 16 Kinzhal missiles so far in the war and it is estimated that, in total, it has about 42as collected The Washington Post.
