Comment by dragontamer | Hacker News Reader

Comment by dragontamer | Hacker News Reader

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No one wants to see civilians die. But killing civilians doesn't change Ukrainian military strength at all.

That's why such an attack is stupid and barbaric. It changes nothing about the war and just manages to waste Russian money and kill innocent people.

If Russia's best response is really just attacking Universities and parks, it means that the Ukrainian army is invisible to Russia and Russia has no ability to strike the troops.

Russia seemingly just confirmed what we all were thinking, they have no ability to beat the Ukrainian army anymore, and have decided to simply attack civilians out of frustration.

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In contrast, the destruction of the Crimean bridge destroys one of two railroads that are supplying the Russian army in the south. Logistics for troop supplies are ruined.

The strategic implications are obvious, and Russia seemingly has no way to stop the Ukrainian southern counter-offensive... And now has roughly 1/2 of the military supplies moving forward.

People in charge of Russia likely care little about Ukranian civillians and care deeply about appearing strong to Russian war supporters.

Except they haven't only destroyed universities and parks. They have also hit the power plants in most of the cities. Kharkov was out of electricity in the morning, so were parts of other major cities. Now imagine electricity being out but in winter.

As I said earlier: it'd suck. But it wouldn't hamper the Ukrainian military at all.

Indeed, this is likely going to have the opposite effect. Ukrainians are going to ask NATO for even more weapons, such as anti-missile systems and better air defenses. Making the Ukrainian military even more powerful.

I really don't think that this terrorism of civilians is a good strategy at all. Everyone has accepted the fact that civilians are "soft targets" that are incredibly difficult (maybe impossible) to defend. We don't need a reminder from Russia for that fact.

All these attacks do is prove the depravity of the Russians. Not just of Putin, but also the military commanders who carried out and executed these attacks.

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