Why Russia targets Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, ISW explains
Photo: The Kremlin pursues several goals with its strikes (Getty Images)
Russian strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure are part of a broader campaign. The goal is to freeze the country this winter and pressure both Ukraine and the West into making political decisions favorable to Russia, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Analysts note that Russia has repeatedly attacked Ukraine's infrastructure in the fall and winter since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022. In particular, the aggressor country recently carried out major strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure, specifically on November 16-17 and November 25-26.
Moreover, yesterday, Russia's Ministry of Defense stated that Russian forces carried out strikes on December 12-13 in response to a Ukrainian attack on Taganrog in Russia's Rostov region on December 11, which involved US-supplied long-range ATACMS missiles. However, as ISW reports, the Russians likely planned to carry out such strikes regardless of the incident and conveniently use the December 11 attack to justify their ongoing strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
Experts concluded that Russian statements are likely aimed at achieving two objectives:
- First, to soften calls from Russia's ultranationalist community for retaliation against Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory.
- Second, to support the Kremlin's reflexive control campaign aimed at pressuring Western countries to make decisions regarding Ukraine's use of Western-supplied weapons and future peace negotiations that would benefit Russia.
As a reminder, in a comment to RBC-Ukraine, Oleksandr Musiienko, head of the Сenter for Military Law Research, stated that Russia could carry out 2 to 4 more attacks on Ukraine by January 20. These would specifically be large-scale strikes.
