For the past two months, Russia has systematically targeted Ukrainian infrastructure, devastating the country’s power grid and putting many basic services from healthcare to sanitation at risk. Apart from destruction, this campaign has achieved virtually nothing positive for Russia.
Ukrainians are undeterred in their fighting spirit, and Kyiv’s international partners show no sign of weakening in their resolve of support. But this is unlikely to force Putin to change course. On the contrary, all the signs are that he will double down and continue to lay waste to a country whose very right to exist he denies.
Over the holiday period, Russia continued its daily attacks against mostly civilian targets in Ukraine. For example, on December 29 a massive barrage of missile strikes and drone attacks hit infrastructure facilities in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, Odesa, and government-controlled areas of the contested Donetsk oblast. Similar attacks continued for several days and show no sign of abating in the new year. This prompted the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to warn that Russia was probably planning a prolonged air campaign aimed at exhausting Ukraine.
