Putin’s Infrastructure War Won’t Stop in Ukraine
The West needs to harden its defenses against hybrid attacks on civilian targets.
The gray zone.
Photograph courtesy of Swedish Coast Guard via Getty Images
With its ground war in Ukraine faltering, Russia has intensified its use of unmanned drones to attack Ukraine’s critical infrastructure — and signaled a willingness to conduct similar strikes against the West. Last week, Russian president Vladimir Putin suggested that “any critically important object of transport, energy or utilities infrastructure,” regardless of location, could be fair game. In the face of such threats, US and European leaders should ramp up efforts to protect critical infrastructure and make clear that any deliberate acts of sabotage will bring an equally punishing response.
Russia’s latest air assault has targeted Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, as well as the country’s power and water facilities. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Tuesday that Russian strikes have destroyed 30% of the country’s power-generation capacity in just over a week. By deploying waves of “kamikaze” drones — allegedly supplied by Iran — against infrastructure targets, Putin hopes to terrorize Ukraine’s civilians and weaken their resolve as winter sets in.