The new military strategy of Ukraine is obvious: the focus in the future will not be only on defense and establishing positions, but is shifting to offensive operations. After an unexpected and successful landing offensives on the Kursk region and the occupation of over 1000 square kilometers of Russian territory, was followed by the fiercest drone attack on Moscow so far.
With wholehearted military assistance from the West, the Ukrainian armed forces have shown that they can inflict a painful defeat on Russian troops, have exposed major weaknesses in Russia's defense system, which raises morale among Ukrainians and causes concern among Russians.
And above all: the war is no longer raging only in Ukraine, it has moved to Russia.
There is also the question of what will happen if the Ukrainian troops start to launch at Russia the destructive medium and long-range missiles they receive from NATO member states, for now only for self-defense on their own territory.
Ukraine launched one of its largest drone attacks on Moscow on Wednesday morning. Russian air defense units destroyed at least ten drones, the mayor of Podolsk, a town 38 kilometers south of the Russian capital, said earlier. broadcast by Radio Free Europe (RSE)..
"Air defense systems continue to repulse attacks by enemy aircraft." Some of them were destroyed above Podolsk. This is one of the biggest attempts to attack Moscow with drones. We are still monitoring the situation," Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin wrote on Telegram. According to the first information, there were no injuries or material damage.
"Provocation" of Russia
Ukraine has sent one or two drones toward Moscow in recent months, each time without significant effect, Reuters writes.
However, the latest appears to be bigger than the one in May last year, when at least eight drones were destroyed over Moscow, prompting Russian President Vladimir Putin to say Kiev was trying to "provoke and scare Russia".
Russian officials rarely provide complete data on attacks, mostly reporting only drones destroyed by their air defense units, RSE reports.
Both Russia and Ukraine rarely reveal the full extent of damage and casualties in their clashes, except in cases where residential or civilian infrastructure is damaged or civilians are killed, Reuters reminds.
The latest attack on Moscow is part of a comprehensive drone attack from Ukraine, Russian officials say, as the air defense system intercepted 18 drones over the Bryansk region in southwestern Russia and several more over other areas. However, no damage was reported there either. Reuters could not verify these reports, and Ukraine has not yet commented on them.
In recent months, Kiev has stepped up airstrikes on Russian territory and points out that it is doing so in order to destroy key infrastructure for Russia's war operations. They also state that their attacks are a response to continuous Russian attacks on Ukrainian territory.
Source: Radio Free Europe
