The shelling of Ukraine’s energy system is only part of Putin’s much bigger plan: what the media write about the attacks of October 31

On Monday, October 31, Russia launched a series of missile strikes on infrastructure across Ukraine in the morning. Attacks were reported on energy facilities in Cherkasy and Kropyvnytskyi, in the eastern district of Kharkiv and in the southern district of Zaporizhzhia.

Fakty ICTV looked at what Western media wrote about yesterday’s shelling of Ukraine.

CNN says that due to the shelling 80% of Kyiv residents were left without water and 350 thousand apartments without electricity.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the missile attack was partly a response to the “attack on the Russian fleet” in Sevastopol on Saturday. The Kremlin then blamed Kyiv.

Putin also warned that these strikes are not all that Russia is capable of.

In recent weeks, Russia has launched a series of attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Melinda Haring, deputy director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, said this is only part of a much larger plan by President Vladimir Putin.

– Putin’s game plan is clear: he wants to make this winter the coldest and darkest in Ukraine’s history. He will continue to strike infrastructure networks to cut off Ukraine’s electricity and heat. Kamikaze drone attacks are designed to break the will of the Ukrainian people and sow panic,” she said.

Some experts question how successful this strategy will be.

Speaking to CNN, Douglas Barry, a senior fellow in military aerospace at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), said that the number of air-launched cruise missiles that Russia still has in its arsenal has been significantly reduced. Therefore, the question is how long Russia will be able to continue such attacks.

The Washington Post writes that yesterday Russia struck 10 regions, damaging 18 objects, most of which are energy facilities.

Russia shelled Ukrainian infrastructure, apparently from fighter jets over the Caspian Sea or from Rostov region in southern Russia. The publication believes that in this way Moscow wants to answer for the failures on the battlefield.

In addition, last week in the occupied Crimea, the Russian Black Sea Fleet frigate Grigorovich was damaged by drone strikes. Although Ukraine did not take responsibility for the incident.

Western and Ukrainian officials said the Russian attacks were so methodical that they seemed to be directed by energy experts who knew they would cause maximum damage to infrastructure. Such attacks are difficult to defend against.

Ukraine’s Western allies have promised to provide more powerful air defense systems, but they are difficult to use, require careful training and are slow to arrive.

The Guardian writes that Ukraine will face a winter humanitarian crisis if it fails to prevent a collapse in the energy system caused by Russian missile attacks.

Executive Director of Ukrenergo Volodymyr Kudrytskyi said that almost all large non-nuclear power plants in the country, as well as more than 30% of substations of the routing network were damaged as a result of Russian attacks.

– This is the largest missile attack on the electricity infrastructure in history. Unfortunately, the situation is critical. The Ukrainian energy system is being deliberately destroyed, and it supplies tens of millions of people,” Kudrytskyi said.

If Russian attacks continue, power cuts in Ukraine will become longer and longer. Russia wants to create a humanitarian disaster in Ukraine.