The strategy is now clear. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that deadly bombings targeting Ukraine’s energy grid, which led to major power outages, followed the Kremlin’s goal of “demilitarization” of Ukraine. “We assume that in this way we have an influence on the military-industrial complex of Ukraine,” declared the Russian president, during a meeting in the Kremlin with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko.
At the same time, Mr. Putin said the bombings were a response to recent Ukrainian attacks targeting energy infrastructure in Russia, including refineries. “We have seen a series of strikes on our energy sites recently and we were obliged to respond,” he said.
The specter of last winter
Mr. Putin also assured that the Russian army had not struck Ukrainian electrical installations this winter “for humanitarian reasons”. “We did not want to deprive social infrastructure, hospitals, etc. of electricity,” according to the Russian president. During the winter of 2022-2023, Russian strikes left thousands of people in the cold and darkness for extended periods.
This winter, the Ukrainian electricity network was less targeted until March and the start of a new wave of bombings targeting it. On Thursday, once again, around forty missiles and as many Russian drones targeted the Ukrainian electricity network, so much so that President Volodymyr Zelensky implored his Western allies to provide his country with anti-aircraft defense systems as quickly as possible.