Ukraine carried out a major attack in the Saint Petersburg region in the early hours of last Friday (24), hitting warehouses of the Russian e-commerce network Wildberries. On Saturday (25), a fire broke out in a company warehouse in the Ekaterinburg region after another attempted Ukrainian attack.
According to local authorities, a fire broke out in a parking lot in the Chkalovsky district of Yekaterinburg due to falling “debris from a drone,” but the fire was brought under control. “Economic and infrastructure facilities were not damaged, people were evacuated and there were no injuries,” said the governor of the Sverdlovsk region, Denis Pasler.
Last week’s attacks reveal a new trend in Ukrainian drone targets in Russian regions. In total, since June 18, Kiev has carried out five large-scale drone attacks targeting warehouses of Russia’s largest retail chain. in the regions of Moscow, Tambov, Krasnodar, Stavropol Krai, Leningrad, Saint Petersburg, Voronezh and the Crimea.
At least nine people have already died and around 100 have been injured as a result of Ukraine’s attack on Wildberries warehouses. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claims the depots are “legitimate military targets” responsible for distributing drone components and equipment to the Russian Army.
The Kremlin, in turn, denied Ukraine’s claims that Wildberries logistics centers were being used to supply the Russian army. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov called these allegations false, emphasizing the civilian nature of the facilities.
In an interview with Brazil in factRussian political scientist Ivan Mezyukho points out that Ukraine’s attacks on Wildberries warehouses “have a number of motivations”, but, above all, according to him, Kiev’s objective is “to try to create complicated living conditions in peaceful regions of the Russian Federation, trying to do everything possible to influence public opinion in the country”.
The analyst reiterates the Kremlin’s version of the nature of the Wildberries network’s warehouses, stating that “the warehouses in question are not a military target and are not used by the Russian Armed Forces as some kind of transit point.” “These are commercial infrastructure facilities used directly by the civilian population”, he adds.
Warehouse fires damaged tens of thousands of goods belonging to small and medium-sized businesses that resell through Wildberries. According to preliminary estimates, the losses caused by the attack will exceed 50 billion rubles (about R$3.2 billion), and up to 15% of the company’s warehouses may have been damaged.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov acknowledged that the attacks could cause great damage. “In relation to the aforementioned company, the situation is indeed difficult due to the losses suffered both by the company itself and by small and medium-sized enterprises. The government is taking care of the matter,” he told reporters.
According to political scientist Ivan Mezyukho, Ukraine’s efforts to destabilize Russia internally are also linked to the approaching parliamentary elections in the country, which will take place on September 20.
“Why is Ukraine trying to influence public opinion in our country? To artificially increase protest sentiment ahead of the elections to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, which will take place in September this year, the attacks against Wildberries must certainly be considered in the context of Ukraine’s preparations for the elections and potential negotiations with the Russian Federation,” he said.
“Ukraine, believing that it can influence public opinion in Russia through attacks on civilian infrastructure, believes that in this way it will enter into negotiations with the Russian Federation on favorable terms already this autumn or winter. However, these are, let’s say, unrealistic goals of the Kiev regime, but at least this is how they see the situation,” he added.
The new phase of worsening of the war in Ukraine has been marked by an intensification of drone attacks against Russian oil refineries, which has caused a crisis in the supply of gasoline at stations in several cities around the country. Now, Kiev carries out systematic attacks on Wildberries warehouses throughout the week.
One way or another, Ukraine’s objective boils down to an attempt to increase the cost of the war for Russia, seeking to destabilize the country from an economic, political and military point of view.
Moscow, on the other hand, shows no sign of making any concessions to Ukraine as attacks intensify. On the contrary, Russia is also increasing its firepower and carrying out more powerful bombings against the capital Kiev and other Ukrainian regions.
In response, Russia launched a missile attack in the region of the capital Kiev during the afternoon of last Friday (24), hitting the place where a military exhibition was being held. According to Ukrainian authorities, at least 10 people died and dozens were injured.
This dynamic of retaliation is what has determined the new escalation phase of the war, with the intensification of massive missile and drone attacks on both sides, increasingly reaching civilian areas of Russian and Ukrainian cities, in parallel with the ongoing battle on the front line in eastern Ukraine.
As winter approaches in Europe, the tendency is that, with the continuation of massive drone attacks by Kiev, Russia will intensify its attacks against Ukrainian energy infrastructure. Political scientist Ivan Mezyukho highlights that Moscow will adopt “a broader and more severe response”.
“In response to attacks on civilian infrastructure, Russia will likely be forced to attack Ukrainian energy facilities. And all this activity could end with cold radiators in Kiev apartments as early as this fall and winter,” he said.
For Mezyukho, the dynamics of intensifying attacks will lead the conflict between the two countries to a phase of attrition on the Ukrainian side. According to the analyst, this presupposes a worsening of attacks before any resolution.
“As a result, the conflict will become more violent and bloody. From a historical perspective, we must understand that the Ukrainian conflict is approaching its final phase. The final phase does not mean that we are talking about two months until the end of the conflict. We are talking about Ukraine simply running out of resources. And that is largely why it is intensifying. The intensity of this conflict is increasing, becoming more and more violent. The final phase presupposes more violence,” the political scientist added.
Source: www.brasildefato.com.br
