There are way too many residential buildings hit for it to be an accident, all the time.
It’s a part of Moscow’s strategy to weaken civilian resolve. They did the same thing in Chechnya.
It’s a part of Moscow’s strategy to weaken civilian resolve. They did the same thing in Chechnya.
Let alone the fact that you can weaken civilian resolve better by hitting logistical hubs and energy infrastructure.
Of course, unless you have 40x the budget of the enemy forever, it's not sustainable. Also, how fast can you produce your $1M missile, vs. the enemy's $25k Shahed?
I have been arguing that Shahed-style (cheap/easy to build/very long-range) cruise missiles completely changed the nature of warfare, for years now. A saturation attack like that is currently possible for a non-peer to pull off, and is currently not fully defendable.
US and other military procurement folks have been asleep at the wheel on this for what, 4 years now? The proof is what Iran was able to do. How did not they see this coming? This should be a huge public scandal.