In its assessment, the Institute for Study of War noted that in attacking Ukrainian energy and civilian infrastructure with drones and missiles, Russia aims to degrade Ukraine’s will to fight, as well as to force the Ukrainian government to apply additional resources to protecting civilians and energy infrastructure in lieu of channeling those resources toward Ukraine’s counteroffensives in the east and south.
Particularly, the offensive now is centered around Kherson Oblast, where Russian troops are departing from the right bank of the river and forcibly evacuating civilians, while spreading disinformation that Ukraine aims to blow up the dam of the hydroelectric plant, a move that makes no sense for Ukraine.
“Ongoing Russian strikes on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure are extraordinarily unlikely to erode the Ukrainian will to fight but will increasingly pose an economic and humanitarian challenge for Ukraine as temperatures drop,” ISW notes.
