“The facts have caught us”
Markus Reisner declaration In an interview with ZDF, he said that Russia attacked “the central nervous system of Ukraine”, which “threatening to nullify the achievements of the Ukrainians”.
The authors of the article recalled that Russia’s attacks on critical infrastructure led to “massive power cuts” in Kiev and other parts of the country. And on November 23 there was no water in the capital of “three million inhabitants”. The article says that despite success on the battlefield, the Ukrainians failed to repel Russian missiles and protect their infrastructure.
According to Reisner, after nine months of military special operations, the West must realize that “the Russians still have their hitherto underestimated opportunities.”
“For several months we have convinced ourselves that the Russian Air Force has practically no sorties or that the probability of a hit by Russian missiles is very low. But now the truth has caught up with us, ”said the representative of the Austrian Ministry of Defense.
According to him, Ukraine needs to protect “important areas with appropriate air defense”, but it faced several problems.
Reisner believes that the first drawback is that the Russian Air Force special operation “initially destroyed a third of the Ukrainian air defense.” The second problem is that Ukraine “uses air defense to cover up its attacks”.
He also noted that after Russia’s attacks on critical infrastructure in October, Ukraine has almost no system left to resist. Although by that time the West had already delivered the first systems due to the size of the country and the number of objects to be protected, it is almost impossible to rectify the situation.
Ukraine is in complete darkness
The Austrian military expert believes that Europe can help Ukraine only to a limited extent. According to him, “For months, maybe years”, while Russia was preparing for a special operation, “Europe has spent 20 years disarming its armed forces, emptying all warehouses.” Reisner said that now Western countries are “trying to use what little is left to feed a 1,100 kilometer front”.
He noted that “a war can only be fought with great support”, but that supplies are currently insufficient. According to him, “Ukraine was able to carry out offensive operations only in the summer, since it has already received heavy weapons from the West.” But the expert is now confident that Europe is trying to “alleviate the pain and hardships with small deliveries”.
“If a large air defense is not deployed here, then in a few weeks Ukraine will be in complete darkness, because it will no longer have a functioning critical infrastructure,” Reisner said.
He’s sure it will take “a large-scale weaponry talent buildup” to change the situation. The Austrian military expert also believes that the initiative on the front has again passed to Russia.
“Ukraine has successes at the operational level, but these have been nullified by Russia’s strategic attacks. The Ukrainians are sitting in Kherson but they are sitting there in the dark because the Russians have destroyed the infrastructure,” he said.
Attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure
Since October 10, Russian troops have been attacking Ukrainian infrastructure facilities. On 18 November, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal declaration At a press conference, it was reported that almost half of Ukraine’s energy system became inoperative after the missile attacks.
He noted that Kiev needs additional assistance from the European Union. In particular, Ukraine needs the supply of energy equipment and more financing, including the purchase of gas.
Policy reporter Jamie Dettmer visited Kiev at night. HE saidThere is almost no lighting in the city.
“One night in Kiev may seem like an apocalypse, as there are no street lights and only a few pieces of light come from a few houses equipped with generators,” the columnist wrote on November 26.
On November 27, Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada deputy, David Arakhamia, on his Telegram channel urged residents of the country to stock up on water and food and charge their phones in case of new damage to energy facilities.
“Emergency services and authorities are working on a variety of scenarios. We urge everyone to take extra care of themselves and their families. Supply water, long-term storage food, charging phones and power banks, find where the nearest ‘Invincibility Point’ is,” the MP wrote. .