The Center is commenting on the airstrikes carried out by Russia on the night of March 28-29 this year. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Friday that the targets of the attacks were Hydropower stations in Cherkasy and Chernivtsi regions.
Pro-Russian Kremlin war bloggers said two facilities in the Dnipropetrovsk region were shelled: a thermal power plant and a hydroelectric plant. This was confirmed by the Ukrainian energy company Ukrainerho Airstrikes damaged hydroelectric power plants and thermal power plants in the central and western parts of the country.
According to ISW experts, this is it A “new pattern” of attacks on Ukrainian hydropower plants and dams represents a “significant increase” in the number of tests carried out so far. Earlier, Russian troops did not systematically attack hydropower plants and dams. ISW reminds that the purpose of shelling Ukrainian energy infrastructure is to “weaken the power of the Ukrainian defense sector”. The Russians are trying to take advantage of the fact that Ukraine is experiencing a shortage of air defense missiles.
“America and European countries They are not yet ready to deliver equipment to UkraineIt may become operationally or strategically important (… due to fear of escalation or retaliation” – notes ISW. It also reminds that previous such decisions of the West did not stop Moscow from intensifying the war).
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“Russia has consistently demonstrated its willingness to escalate unprovoked aggression, and concerns about Russian escalation or retaliation in response to further supplies of Western arms to Ukraine should not dictate decisions regarding this aid — in the United States or in other Western countries,” he concludes. ISW experts.
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