U.S. Media: Russia-Ukraine Airstrike War Enters "More Lethal New Phase"

Reference News Network, August 30 report The Wall Street Journal website published an article on August 26 titled "The Air War Between Russia and Ukraine Has Entered a More Lethal New Phase," authored by Marcus Walker. The translation is as follows:

The air war between Russia and Ukraine has entered a new phase. Both sides are expanding their aerial arsenals, but their air defense capabilities are stretched thin. The two countries are striking hard against each other, with the scale of destruction increasingly widening and civilian casualties continuing to rise.

Moscow is betting on destroying the will of the Ukrainian civilians to achieve breakthroughs that its military has failed to accomplish in eastern Ukraine. Meanwhile, Kyiv is attempting to paralyze key industries that support the Russian economy, making its military operations unsustainable.

However, both sides seem far from the brink of collapse. This war is becoming more brutal and destructive, yet there are no signs of an end in sight.

Russian President Putin has threatened to expand the scope of strikes against Ukraine in response to Kyiv's attacks on its oil industry facilities. He stated last week, "The Kyiv regime is trying to undermine our economy. What’s the result? It has opened Pandora's box itself."

Both Russia and Ukraine are conducting long-range airstrikes using drones and missiles, but their strategies are entirely different.

In the fall of 2022, Russia's operations stalled, and its military suffered a series of setbacks, leading Russia to systematically target Ukraine's energy infrastructure. As winter approached, Moscow shifted its strategic focus to plunging Ukrainian cities into cold and darkness.

For four consecutive winters, this strategy has failed to yield results. Ukrainians have managed to maintain, repair, or replace enough heating and power facilities to keep their cities operational. However, the cumulative damage to Ukraine's power grid has been worsening each year.

Since the Iraq War, there has been a global shortage of "Patriot" missile supplies, which has darkened the atmosphere in Kyiv.

Many residents of Kyiv are concerned that Russia will attempt to destroy the city's water supply and sewage treatment systems. Some residents are discussing whether they should temporarily move to the countryside if conditions in the capital become too severe this winter.

Russia's strikes have failed to halt the rapid development of Ukraine's defense technology industry. Today, Ukraine's decentralized covert facilities can produce millions of drones each year.

Due to the limited number of "Patriot" missiles provided by Western allies, Ukraine is exploring other methods to disrupt Russia's missile salvos.

Ukrainian drones have been destroying air defense systems in Russia's southern border regions, which may pave the way for larger-scale operations to seek and destroy Russian missile launchers.

Rob Lee, a military analyst based in Kyiv and a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, stated, "If the airspace is filled with drones, it may force missile launchers to hide or retreat further away. This is not a foolproof solution, but it could cause greater trouble for Russia."

Rob Lee pointed out that ballistic missiles are not the only threat. Russia is expanding its arsenal of jet-powered drones, such as the "Geranium" drone developed based on Iran's "Shahed" drone, and the relatively low-cost "Kamikaze" missiles. He noted that both types of weapons are cheaper than conventional missiles, can be mass-produced, and may further deplete Ukraine's air defense capabilities.

Kyiv claims its goal is to strike at the military supply chain, cutting off export revenues that fund Moscow's war machine, and causing increasing economic chaos that makes the Russian populace feel the brutality of war.

However, most observers of Russian issues are skeptical that dissatisfaction among the domestic populace or business elites can prompt Putin to accept a ceasefire.

Franz-Stefan Gady, a military analyst based in Vienna and head of Gady Consulting, stated that the decisive variable in the war remains military manpower, including whether Putin will initiate a large-scale mobilization in the coming months to accelerate his ground offensive, among other factors. (Translation/ Zhang Lin)