There are serious concerns in the United States that Ukraine may lose the war in the winter due to a change in the tactics of Russian airstrikes aimed at destroying the country’s energy system. As informs edition of Politico on September 15, these concerns are due to the expectation that Russia will expand its attacks on strategic infrastructure facilities.
Ukrainian officials suggest that Russia plans to use the recently acquired Fath-360 ballistic missiles from Iran, which have a range of up to 120 km. These missiles will target logistics centers, communications hubs and ammunition depots in the rear of Ukraine, allowing Russia to use other long-range missiles against civilian infrastructure, including energy facilities.
The Russians pay special attention to the main power substations that supply three nuclear power plants — Rivne, Khmelnytskyi and South Ukrainian. These nuclear power plants provide about 55% of electricity in Ukraine, which makes them critically important for the country’s energy system. If these substations were to fail, the reactors at the stations would have to be shut down quickly to avoid the risk of a nuclear incident, which experts say is the Russians’ goal.
Politico emphasizes that the paralysis of the operation of these power plants can significantly reduce Ukraine’s military capability, lead to an economic collapse and weaken Kyiv’s position in the event of the start of peace talks with Russia.
According to officials in Kyiv, it was the fear of such a scenario that became one of the reasons why the White House decided to revise its policy regarding the ban on Ukraine’s use of ATACMS and Storm Shadow long-range missiles for strikes on Russian territory.
“Washington shuddered when Russian airstrikes began targeting the main substations feeding the nuclear power plants in late August.” – said in the material of Politico.
