The Kremlin’s Four Goals: What’s Really Behind the Mass Strikes on Ukrainian Cities
17 June 10:43
ANALYSIS
On the night of June 17, Russia attacked Ukraine with more than 440 drones and 32 missiles. Explosions were heard in Kyiv, Kryvyi Rih, Dnipro, Zaporizhia, and Sumy. The capital suffered the greatest blow, where 14 people were killed and another 60 were injured.
Massive missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities have become a regular practice on the part of the Russian Federation. "Komersant Ukrainian" asked experts what goals the Kremlin is pursuing and how long Ukrainian society will be able to withstand such pressure.
Military expert Dmitry Snegirev is sure: the Russian army has finally switched to tactics of mass terror of the civilian population. The goal is to demoralize society, sow panic and distrust of the authorities.
“These are no longer attacks on military infrastructure. No one is even trying to hide it. The targets were residential areas, civilian infrastructure, regional centers, front and rear areas — all over the country,”
— he says.
The expert recalled that the world’s attention is currently focused on events in the Middle East. At the same time, the Kremlin is trying to regain the geopolitical “weight” that it was deprived of.
“Russia was thrown out of the Middle East negotiations. So it responds with strikes on Ukraine, demonstrating that we are still there, we still have influence. This is a way to bargain. The strike is like an argument at a table to which it was not invited,”
— Snegirev adds.
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Political scientist Ruslan Bortnyk sees three main goals of the Kremlin in these attacks. The first is to destroy the industrial, military and logistical potential of Ukraine. The second is to intimidate society, exhaust people morally and psychologically. The third is to send a signal to the West: Russia still has enough resources and will not stop.
“This is an ultimatum. The Kremlin is seeking from the Ukrainian elite to agree to favorable conditions for “peace”. For this, both terror and prolongation of the war are used,”
— explains the political scientist.
Referring to the data of opinion polls, he said that 60–70% of Ukrainians declare their readiness to support the war until victory. However, the real moral state of society is much more complicated, Bortnyk believes. Especially in cities, which are most often the targets of attacks.
“All this will end not with protests against the current government, which the Russian Federation is counting on, but with social destruction: suicides, domestic conflicts, a drop in productivity. People are starting to “burn” from the inside. This exhaustion has a delayed but serious effect,”
— he emphasizes.
The expert also predicts a new wave of internal migration.
“This will manifest itself in the migration of the population from urbanized areas that Russia is bombing. For example, Kryvyi Rih, Kremenchuk, Kyiv, Odesa, Zaporizhia, Dnipro. People will move to Western Ukraine, or to the countryside,”
— the political scientist believes.
Therefore, Russia’s large-scale attacks on Ukrainian cities primarily have not a military, but a clearly expressed psychological and political goal. The Kremlin is deliberately hitting civilians, trying to break the internal stability of society and force Ukraine to make concessions. By carrying out another massive attack on the days of the G7 summit, which is also discussing sanctions against the Russian Federation, Russia is demonstrating its audacity and confidence in its own impunity. There will be no response from the G7, because this structure is currently unable to even agree on the text of the communiqué.
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