<
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/17/russias-latest-attack-on-ukraine-shows-maximalist-war-aims-remain-unchanged>
"Millions of Ukrainians woke up early on Sunday morning to a massive Russian
missile and drone attack on their country’s infrastructure, the biggest assault
from Moscow since the end of August and the first large-scale attack since the
US election.
Donald Trump once promised to settle the Ukraine war in “24 hours” but the 120
missiles and 90 drones aimed at the nation’s utilities is a reminder that
Moscow’s maximalist aspirations to cow and subjugate its neighbour remains
unchanged.
The military may use electricity, water and gas, but the obvious reality is
that in any outages of utilities, it is civilians across the country who will
be disproportionately affected, just as a harsh winter looms where temperatures
of -10C (14F) are not uncommon and -20C is not unknown.
The true target of such a widespread attack – from Lviv in the west, to Odesa
in the south, and the capital Kyiv – is national morale. Even when the incoming
missiles are largely intercepted, as they were on Sunday, the air raid alarms
in the small hours and explosions in the distance sap people’s energy, even
though the overwhelming desire in Ukraine to resist remains undimmed.
A Ukrainian woman living in Kyiv, who asked that her name not be used because
of the reference to her family, said the dilemma was always whether to wake her
10-year-old son and go into a shelter or leave him and hope the danger passes.
Near nightly drone attacks on Kyiv have already left many in the capital short
on sleep.
Among the munitions deployed, Ukraine believes, were seven Kinzhal hypersonic
missiles, which can in theory be nuclear armed and travel at four to 10 times
the speed of sound. But Russia’s missile arsenal has been sharply depleted from
the early stages of the war, meaning that it is likely to have been building up
stocks to use in a large-scale attack."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
