Russia launched an extensive number of missiles at Ukraine during the night of Thursday, making the incident one of Moscow’s biggest air attacks in months.
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The regional governor says that the recently launched round of attacks has left almost 500,000 people in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest metropolitan area, without power.
In addition, there are worries about the extent to which Ukraine will be capable of responding to these bomb blasts.
According to Alexander Rodnyansky, Zelensky’s chief economic adviser, “they’re trying to send a really powerful message to everyone who lives in Ukraine, and maybe even to a few of our refugees from outside Ukraine, that life isn’t even close to getting better despite the recent increase in calm.
But according to Western researchers, air strikes like these won’t help Russia succeed in the conflict.
Justin Bronk, a senior analyst for aircraft carriers and technology at the London-based Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank, has said, “There is a strong record of countries attempting to win conflicts through tactical bombings, to tear the determination or power of an opposition state to fight back.” “Its rate of success is terrible.”
Russia’s scarce inventories imply it’s highly doubtful to force a big breakthrough in the battle through the air as long as its aircraft cannot obtain superiority above Ukraine.
What kind of missiles does Russia have?
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine stated in a morning update that Russia fired 95 missiles of multiple kinds, 34 of which have been apprehended. Russia also fired a multitude of Shahed drones manufactured in Iran.
Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the head of the Ukrainian Military, said that six specific kinds of cruise missiles were deployed in the wee hours of Thursday morning. These bombs were initiated from both the water as well as the air.
The six launches of Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missiles, which are very hard to stop, have gotten a lot of attention.
It is hypersonic, meaning it moves at least five times the velocity of sound, like nearly all strategic bombers, but it is especially challenging to identify due to it being initiated from MiG-31 warplanes, giving it a broader coverage and the capacity to strike from multiple angles, as well as the ability to manoeuvre as it approaches its target.
Is this a brand-new tactic?
Russia’s favourite way to strike from the sky is to employ numerous distinct sorts of military hardware in one night.
Bronk stated that “, “Recently, six months or more, there’s been an increasing pattern towards longer breaks between missile launches, but whenever they do happen, more nuclear weapons are being used at once to create a greater challenge for defences to stop them all.”
This change happened as Ukraine’s air defence systems started to improve and more sophisticated and as a means of making every wave of attacks hit harder.
What is the effectiveness of Ukraine’s air defences?
After Thursday’s bombing run, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky stated “ Ukraine’s defence systems were inadequate against Russia’s ballistic missile Kinzhal missiles.
“Supersonic speeds missile attacks. Rodnyansky told CNN’s Isa Soares, “They are now using new weaponry and are also seeing how our missile defences can find a way to deal with that as well.”
Ukraine has adjusted to Russian aerial bombing by strengthening its surface-to-air defences to take down cruise missiles and Shahed aircraft.
Seldom has the fearsome weapon been observed in the skies of the nation. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, it was utilized in Ukraine for the first time in March of last year and has since been used sporadically (CSIS).
Russia’s airstrikes seem to have no effect on the war’s pace, especially since Ukraine is experiencing the brunt of a mild winter when Putin had anticipated strikes on power and electricity resources could very well shake morale.
“It is quite devastating for Ukraine, but will it prevent them from engaging in a war? “No, certainly not,” Bronk told reporters.