Russia has decided its path to victory goes through dead and terrorized Ukrainian citizens.
The ground war continues with Russian forces grinding forward slowly at seemingly higher cost in men. As that continues, Russia kicks its war against Ukraine's existence to a higher level of cruelty:
The United Nations says the Russian military is increasingly attacking Ukraine's civilian population and energy infrastructure with drones.
Matthias Schmale, the UN's humanitarian coordinator in Ukraine, warned on Friday of a possible "tipping point" that could trigger new mass population movements.
There are people to cope with the humanitarian crisis that Russia creates. Why should Russia care, eh?
In contrast, Ukraine focuses on military targets inside Russia:
Ukrainian drone operations continue to play a critical role in constraining Russian mechanized maneuver and preventing Russian forces from fully exploiting Ukraine's ongoing manpower constraints.
Reminding Russians that they are waging war--and not killing them--is a byproduct of Ukraine's strikes deep inside Russia.
I don't focus on Russian human rights violations, which includes mass kidnapping of Ukrainian children to add them into the next generation of submissive cannon fodder; and banned chemical warfare on Ukraine's troops. So Russian barbarity should be assumed in the context of an illegal Russian invasion of a founding and sovereign member of the United Nations that Putin claims is necessary to defeat NATO, Nazis, and even Satan.
Totally normal.
Should this brutality be a surprise when Russian leaders see their own men as mere disposable cogs to be destroyed for Putin's glory?
And now Russia shows that it wants the territory above all else, and driving the Ukrainians out is an acceptable price to have a buffer against NATO. A wholly theoretical threat that Putin is actually creating by his brutal invasion of Ukraine starting in 2014 that has slowly awakened a slumbering West that had been eager to disband its military power after the Cold War.
#WhyRussiaCan'tHaveNiceThings
UPDATE (Monday): The beatings will continue until pro-Russian sentiment improves:
Russia conducted a “massive” attack against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure on Thursday, firing nearly 200 missiles and drones and leaving more than a million households without power, Ukrainian officials said.
NOTE: ISW updates continue here. Also, I put war-related links and commentary in the Weekend Data Dump.
NOTE: I'm adding updates on the Last Hamas War in this post.
NOTE: You may also read my posts on Substack, at The Dignified Rant: Evolved.
NOTE: The image is a picture of the aftermath of a Russian missile strike in Dnipro, Ukraine, on November 21.
Ukrinform/Cover Images/AP
