Russia’s vicious tactics in Ukraine serve only to further expose its weakness

A dog with an illuminated collar walks in the street during a blackout in Kyiv last month. Photograph: Andrew Kravchenko/AP

The Kremlin thought it would sweep across Ukraine and take Kyiv in a matter of days.

Now, more than nine months into its disastrous war with Ukraine, the new Russian strategy of targeting the infrastructure that brings light, heat and water into millions of Ukrainian homes has revealed Russia’s own weakness and its desperation in the face of a defiant Ukrainian resistance.