The longer this Russian invasion of Ukraine drags on, the more brutal and barbaric the thing becomes.
This is due in no small part to Russia’s surprising inept military muscle, whose reaction to a fierce Ukrainian resistance has been a belligerent turn toward barbarism and genocide.
Now, with the Kremlin’s resources dwindling, Vladimir Putin appears to be unleashing some of his most dastardly munition across Ukraine in a last ditch effort to secure some semblance of progress.
Russia launched a massive barrage of missiles and drones that hit residential buildings and critical infrastructure across Ukraine on Thursday, killing six people and leaving hundreds of thousands without heat or electricity.
The largest such attack in three weeks also put Europe’s largest nuclear plant at risk by knocking it off the power grid for hours before it was reconnected. Nuclear plants need constant power to run cooling systems and avoid a meltdown, and the latest threat to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant once again raised the specter of a nuclear catastrophe
Air raid sirens wailed through the night, as the attacks targeted a wide swath of the country, including in western Ukraine, which is far from the front lines. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the assault that came while many people slept was an attempt by Moscow “to intimidate Ukrainians again.”
Then came the frightening revelation about the sorts of weapons that Russia is throwing at Ukraine.
Among the weapons were six hypersonic Kinzhal cruise missiles, which are among the most sophisticated weapons in the Russian arsenal, Ukrainian air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said. Ukraine says it doesn’t have air defenses that can intercept them.
Russia’s use of these high-tech missiles, while certainly intimidating, could also indicate a serious lack of traditional munitions – which is something that international experts have been suggesting for months now.
