The defence editor of the Economist says today’s attacks on Ukraine were likely planned to lower civilian morale and tax the nation’s military capabilities.
Shashank Joshi, speaking to the BBC, claimed that Russia had demonstrated by the destruction of vital infrastructure that it intended to keep the Ukrainian economy “on its knees,” regardless of any victories Ukraine may have on the battlefield.
“It also, as a secondary objective, I suspect diverts military resources onto the home front,” he said.
“If you look at the disruption of transport, infrastructure, energy… it’s going to make [fighting the war] that little bit more difficult.”
But Joshi also said that Russia had already been running short of missiles, and appeared to have used up some 80-100 on Monday.
“They have to save some, of course, in case the war escalates, in case they have to fight Nato, fight the West,” he said.
“So I don’t think Russia can keep up this pace of strikes in perpetuity, and they’ll have to resort to weapons that are not suited to [these kinds of attacks].”