Ukraine uses drone strikes to reinforce country’s morale
Ukraine has increased its frequency of drone attacks on Russia in recent weeks, a tactic American officials say is intended to demonstrate to the Ukrainian public that Kyiv can still strike back, especially as the counteroffensive against entrenched Russian troops moves slowly.
Over the past week, Ukrainian drones near Moscow forced the Kremlin to temporarily shut down airports serving the capital. And Friday, the Russian Ministry of Defense said Ukraine had launched 42 drones at the occupied Crimean Peninsula and fired a missile that was intercepted not far from Moscow, in what could be one of the biggest known aerial assaults on Russian-held territory since the war began.
Throughout the summer, the intensifying strikes — many of which have been carried out with Ukrainian-made drones — have hit a building in central Moscow, an international airport and a supersonic bomber stationed south of St. Petersburg.
Although the attacks destroyed the bomber, they have done little significant damage to Russia’s overall military might, U.S. officials have said. No Russians have been killed in the strikes on Moscow, most of which occurred early in the day, reducing damage and disruption. The timing may be for operational security or to avoid Russia’s air defenses, but it has also helped ensure that the attacks did not prompt escalatory attacks by Russia.
Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s military intelligence service, known as the GUR, did not directly claim responsibility for the attacks, but he said strikes on Moscow would continue.
“Russian elites and ordinary Russians now understand that war is not somewhere far away on the territory of Ukraine, which they hate,” Mr. Yusov said in an interview last month, as the drone campaign began to intensify. “War is also in Moscow; it’s already on their territory.”
But U.S. officials say there is a more important audience. If there is a strategic target, it is to bolster the morale of Ukraine’s population and troops, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information.
Ukraine began a counteroffensive in June against Russian forces occupying its south and east. But unlike the push last summer, during which Ukrainian forces quickly retook land outside Kharkiv, they have found it harder to break through Russia’s defenses and incurred heavy losses in equipment and troops.