His armed forces Russia recently concentrated their almost daily airstrikes on Kyivwhich they usually target in the early morning with rockets and remote control unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)and sometimes during the day, in order to wear down the air defense of Ukraine, according to officers, politicians and experts.

Although Ukraine claims that it managed to intercept most of the missiles and most of the UAVs and that the losses were limited to two people killed by falling debris, these strikes raise questions. Kyiv is far from the main fronts of the war and is not considered a major military objective.

Officials and analysts assess the purpose of the raids as obstructing the preparation of a Ukrainian counterattack in order to retake territory and use up ammunition and, in general, Ukrainian air defense assets.

Reaction to the upcoming counterattack

It is “about their reaction to the preparation of the Ukrainian counter-offensive,” a senior Ukrainian official told AFP on condition of anonymity, apparently referring to the Russian headquarters. “The coming counterattack made them nervous,” the same source said.

“They are trying to limit our ability to deplete our supply of surface-to-air missiles and divert our forces,” he added, pointing to the low cost of Iranian-designed Shahed remote-controlled drones, which Kiev says are mainly used by Moscow. compared to modern surface-to-air missiles fired by the Ukrainian military.

According to Oleksandr Kovalenko of the Information Resistance organization, which aims to combat “Russian propaganda,” Russian forces are trying to locate Ukrainian air defense systems and occupy them so they are not deployed elsewhere.

According to the American think tank Institute for the Study of War, “Russian forces have launched a new campaign (…) to weaken Ukraine’s counterattack capabilities.”

The main goal of the patriots

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter on Tuesday that the attacks are “aimed at depleting Ukrainian air defenses.” He called on his country’s allies, the EU and NATO, to “increase the production and supply of air defense systems and ammunition.”

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said it destroyed 29 of 31 kamikaze drones flying towards Kyiv and its environs early Tuesday morning. According to the Ukrainian authorities, the success of Ukrainian air defense systems, which received advanced Western systems, has increased significantly.

The United States has delivered at least one Patriot advanced air defense system to Kyiv, which has become a priority target for Russian forces.

“Their main goal is to try to destroy the Patriot air defense systems,” Mr. Kovalenko said.

Earlier this month, Moscow said it had succeeded in destroying the Patriot systems complex with its Kinzhal hypersonic missile. US authorities acknowledged that the array was damaged, but stressed that it remains operational.

“Revenge” for the failures of Russia?

According to Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ignat, this month’s strikes are also part of a psychological warfare operation.

According to him, Russian strikes are “revenge” for Russian “failures” on the fronts and are designed to satisfy Russian public opinion and “sow panic among the Ukrainian population.”

“Of course these strikes are annoying, why not call them?” added a senior official on condition of anonymity. But, he added, during World War II, “the Germans bombed London for five years, much harder than the Russians bombed Kyiv, and what happened?”

If Russia is hoping that demoralized Ukrainians will put pressure on President Volodymyr Zelensky to start peace talks, then, according to Mr. Kovalenko, they probably “do not understand our psychology very well.”

^{Source: APE-MEB, AFP.}