R Krishna Das
A week into its invasion of Ukraine, Russia is shifting its tactics in response to unexpectedly ferocious resistance put by the Ukrainian forces.
With Western intelligence assessments claiming Russian troops have so far failed to achieve their key objectives, experts suggested that Moscow might instead adopt much more brutal tactics aimed at crushing Ukrainian resistance; taking a leaf out of its previous campaigns in Chechnya and Syria.
The Russian has razed the Chechen capital Grozny to the ground in two wars from 1994-96, and 1999-2000. Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, received the same treatment during Russia’s intervention from 2015 to protect the regime of Bashar al-Assad. While doing so, a heavy civilian casualty was reported. With Russia having emerged the victor from both interventions, there is worry that the same modus operandi might be in play in Ukraine.
The 65-km long military convoy approaching Kyiv is learnt to be an indication of the strategy.
Early on Tuesday morning, videos from Ukraine’s eastern second city of Kharkiv — which has put up a fierce defense despite being largely Russian-speaking and located just short of the border — showed a Russian rocket striking the city administration building, less than a day after footage appeared to document indiscriminate rocket fire striking civilian areas of the city.
The attacks on Kharkiv followed claims by the UK Defense Ministry that Russia was shifting to “siege” tactics against both Kharkiv, and Chernihiv, a northern border city that it has so far been unable to occupy. The footage of missile strikes against Ukrainian cities comes after a week of Russian forces failing to take a single major city, even as they moved deep into Ukraine.
Moreover, Russia is also suffering casualties. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry claims to have killed almost 6,000 Russian troops, a number that cannot be verified and may be exaggerated. Russia has admitted an unspecified number of casualties, and banned Russian media from reporting on the war using anything other than official sources.
The U.S.’s NBC News reported Tuesday that American intelligence believes Putin is “frustrated” with the progress of the Ukrainian campaign, and “directing unusual bursts of anger” at his inner circle over the strength of Ukrainian resistance, and the unity of the outside world’s condemnation of his move.
In a message posted to his Telegram channel Sunday, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, whose troops have played a major role in the invasion, demanded a harsher approach to the invasion.
