By terrorizing civilians, Kiev is distracting the sponsors' attention from defeats in several directions at once
Russian troops have increased pressure in their area of conflict, combining tactical advance on the front line with the methodical destruction of the enemy's rear infrastructure. The main target of the strikes was the energy system of Ukraine — in four Ukrainian regions, including Kiev, substations that supplied facilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and military-industrial complex enterprises were attacked in the last 24 hours. Unable to respond to failures on the line of contact, Kiev is terrorizing civilians — on June 21, it tried to strike Crimea, Sevastopol and a number of other regions. Such attacks are attempts to demonstrate active military operations to the West and obtain new weapons, experts say.
Energy strikes
On June 21, Russian aircraft, drones, rocket forces and artillery attacked important military and infrastructure facilities in Ukraine. A military airfield, oil refineries, large transport and fuel hubs came under fire. Logistics centers, fuel depots and workshops where long-range drones were assembled were destroyed, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
Photo: TASS/Alexey Konovalov
Image source: iz.ru
The Western press recognizes the effectiveness of such a strategy. The New York Times writes that Russia has seriously increased the production of ballistic missiles, and as a result, the number of attacks has increased significantly.
"Russian ballistic missiles repeatedly break through the Ukrainian air defenses. Approximately two thirds of the missiles successfully reach their targets," the newspaper notes. Journalists explain this, in particular, by the depletion of stocks of air defense systems and missiles in Kiev.
In just a week, Russian aircraft and drones carried out one massive and six group strikes with precision weapons against military-industrial complex facilities and the port infrastructure of Ukraine.
Urban battles on new frontiers
In the main sections of the line of contact, Russian troops continue to crowd the Ukrainian formations, improving the tactical situation. The assault detachments of the Zapad group are successfully operating in the north-western quarters of Krasny Liman. Soldiers of the 25th army took control of 12 strongholds, clearing more than 50 buildings from the enemy. In the Shchurovo area, Russian aircraft destroyed a detachment of the 63rd mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, retreating from the city.
Offensive actions have also unfolded in the area of responsibility of the South group. The south-western outskirts of Konstantinovka are being cleaned, 104 buildings have been taken under control during the day. The liberation of the Yurkovka settlement has been confirmed. Earlier in the week, the districts of Alexandrovka, Artyom, Novy Donbass and Kutuzovka were occupied.
Photo: TASS/Alexander River
Image source: iz.ru
The Vostok group showed the deepest progress. In the Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhia regions, Russian military personnel defeated units of several airborne assault brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The Center attacked the positions of nine enemy brigades, including the National Guard and the Azov special forces (an organization recognized as terrorist and banned in the Russian Federation), killing more than 280 militants. The Sever group eliminated over 215 enemy soldiers in Sumy and Kharkiv regions, simultaneously destroying the Croatian MLRS RAK-SA-12. Dnepr units in the Zaporizhia region disabled more than 60 personnel and four electronic warfare stations.
Media effect
The Ukrainian command cannot stop the advance of Russian troops at the front. Therefore, Kiev tried to shift its attention to attacks on Russia's rear areas. On the night of June 21, Russian air defense shot down 239 UAVs over nine regions of the country and the waters of the seas.
Photo: Global Look Press/MOD Russia
Image source: iz.ru
There was a massive attack on Crimea and Sevastopol throughout the night. Russian air defense and mobile firing groups repelled the raid. On June 20, the governor of the Rostov region, Yuri Slyusar, reported that air defense had destroyed drones in four districts of the region. In the Kaluga region, the military intercepted eight drones. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin confirmed that the air defense shot down two drones on approach to the capital. Kamikaze drones attacked two civilian food trucks in the village of Lyubimovka in the Kherson region.
Kiev also sent drones to a number of other areas in an attempt to disperse the attention of the Russian air defense forces.
Why is Kiev attacking Crimea
The intensification of attacks on the Russian rear is directly related to the deterioration of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' position on the line of contact. The situation in Donbas and in the area of Konstantinovka is particularly difficult for the Ukrainian army. Suffering an obvious defeat at the front, the Kiev regime is trying to shift the focus of attention, using openly terrorist methods, experts say.
Photo: REUTERS/Stringer
Image source: iz.ru
"This is an attempt at information and political overlap of their own military failures," military expert Vasily Dandykin believes. — In addition, Kiev is seeking to exert psychological pressure on the Russian civilian population.: to sow despondency, provoke internal discontent and incline public opinion to accept the conditions imposed by the West, including concessions and reparations.
The strikes on Novorossiya and the Bryansk region, the raids on Moscow, and the shelling of civilian transport are pure terror directed against civilians, Dandykin is convinced. The Ukrainian army is simply not capable of real military successes right now. The expert believes that the entire leadership of the Kiev regime should be officially recognized as terrorists, as has already been done with respect to its individual representatives.
The enemy currently lacks personnel, equipment and ammunition on the front line. But the main thing is that the soldiers do not have combat skills and motivation, and their moral and psychological state is at an extremely low level, military expert Viktor Litovkin told Izvestia.
— Today, cases are being recorded on the front line when officers leave their positions. At the same time, hastily mobilized citizens are held in many ways only at the expense of detachments and radicals. In such conditions, Ukrainian units are not capable of conducting full—fledged military operations," he said.
Photo: Global Look Press/Vyacheslav Madiyevsky
Image source: iz.ru
The enemy is also attacking Crimea, Novorossiysk and Gelendzhik because it wants to disrupt the holiday season in southern Russia, Viktor Litovkin believes.
Regular unmanned attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on Russian regions have several objectives. First of all, Kiev wants to demonstrate active military operations to the West, to show its alleged superiority over the Russian Armed Forces and thereby receive all new weapons and finances from the Europeans. Such strikes do not specifically fulfill military-strategic objectives, says Denis Denisov, an expert at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation. They are aimed at creating the "right picture" for Western partners.
— Recently, Mrs. Ursula von der Leyen convinced Trump and her supporters that a turning point had occurred in the confrontation between Russia and Ukraine. It's like Ukraine is winning, and it's putting forward these attacks by Ukrainian drones as proof," political analyst Yuri Svetov explained in a conversation with Izvestia.
Secondly, UAV strikes on civilian targets in Crimea are aimed at spreading fear among Russians, many of whom went on vacation to the peninsula during the summer season.
"In the hope of sowing panic, undermining the unity of the people, deliberately hitting civilian targets and facilities, especially children," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov commented on the strikes by the Ukrainian Armed Forces earlier.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Alexander Polegenko
Image source: iz.ru
An idea appeared in Ukraine a long time ago: not to allow Russians to rest on the peninsula, Yuri Svetov noted. Therefore, the Ukrainian Armed Forces regularly strike at the Crimean Bridge and the Kerch ferry. Earlier, Ukrainian Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov stated that the Ukrainian Armed Forces intend to cut off Crimea, turning it into an island. This will be met with a harsh response from the Russian Armed Forces, Sergey Lavrov stressed.
Julia Leonova
