Bridget Brink, the US ambassador to Ukraine, condemned the “brutal” attack on a city whose people “have suffered so much” as retreating Russian forces cut power and water to Kherson on exit route.
“Really terrible, especially on Christmas Eve,” she tweeted.
Russia’s war in Ukraine currently plays out on two largely separate arenas: land battles in the south and east, and air confrontations between Ukraine’s defenses with cruise missiles. and Russian drones targeting electrical infrastructure. Military analysts say the infrastructure-targeted campaign is aimed at demoralizing Ukrainians and pushing their government into a ceasefire that could give Russia time to regroup and rearmament for future attacks.
Since October, Russia has fired a series of missiles and drones at Ukraine’s energy infrastructure over a period of about a week to 10 days. According to the director of military intelligence of Ukraine. Most of the obstacles already include about 75 missiles.
Britain’s defense intelligence agency said that pace could be set based on Russian arms supplies.
“Russia could have limited its long-range missile attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure to about once a week due to the limited number of cruise missiles,” he said. the agency said in its daily update. “Similarly, Russia is unlikely to increase its ammunition stockpile enough to carry out large-scale offensive operations.”
For weeks, Ukrainian officials have expressed concern that Russian forces could use neighboring Belarus as a launchpad for a new ground attack, with Kiev, Ukraine’s capital, a target. potential. One rare visit by President Vladimir V. Putin traveling to Belarus this week to meet his closest regional ally, President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, amplified those concerns. Mr. Lukashenko’s turn to visit Russia on Saturday, state media reported.
But the director of Ukraine’s military intelligence service said: in an interview with The New York Times on Friday that, while the possibility cannot be completely ruled out, a recent series of Russian military operations in Belarus is an attempt by Moscow to trick Ukraine into moving troops away from the active front line in the southeast. of the country.
