“After all, we told them they must understand that if they want to impose blackouts on us, we will do the same. There are no secrets here,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during a meeting with several journalists, including POLITICO, in Kyiv last week.
The goal is to develop such a muscular non-nuclear strike capability that Russia will stop its own attacks on Ukraine. That hasn’t happened yet, but Ukraine can retaliate to Russian attacks in a way it hadn’t been able to do during the first three years of the war.
On Friday, the Kremlin launched more than 450 drones and 30 missiles on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, causing partial blackouts. Last week alone, Russia launched more than 3,100 drones, 92 missiles, and around 1,360 glide bombs against Ukraine, most of which were heading for energy infrastructure targets.
But Ukraine is now repaying in the same coin. In addition to bombing oil refineries, Kyiv hit a civilian power plant in Russia’s Belgorod city near the border with Ukraine earlier this month, causing blackouts.
Zelenskyy said it’s part of Kyiv’s deterrence strategy.
“The enemy must bear the cost of this war. But we do not kill civilians,” Zelenskyy said.