Beyond the obvious , one mayor concern was that Russia will respond in kind
Also note that for 2 years of supposedly genocidal war you have steady processions of politicians holding rallies and foreign dignitaries as guests in Kiev and other Ukrainian cities , Ukrainians get to run an air raid signal for dramatic effect but nothing realy happens.
No one staged an attack on any of them ,
for all intents and purposes Ukrainian war is contained to front lines.
First round of escalation was attacks on Crimea and Kerch Bridge as a response daily air raids on transforming stations , practicaly with zero civilian casualties ,Remember for two years power grid was attacked by blowing up 700kv transformers a non-permanent way to take down the power grid as transformers can be bought worldwide
Since Ukrainians started attacking oil refineries , Russia retaliated by attacking actual powerplants, those are irreplaceable (tens of billions of $ and years to replace each one ) , Refineries were in many cases already repaired and back on line , while powerplants will not be replaced any time soon.
At one point you reach a stage where rolling blackouts are only way to keep the grid from colapsing, and this stange is already reached now , next step couple more powerplants go bust , the electric grid is dead permanently, and then what ? ., sewage, water,heating,transportation stops....... and you get the privilege to pay for it plus million generators and fuel to keep the minimal civilizational standard a situation that would almost guarantee further 'emigration' from Ukraine as winter would become unlivable in many parts of Ukraine.
Smililar is the calculus behind blowing up Kerch Bridge , its a sybol and not actually used to supply military in a significant way
Latest northern front has been opened to reduce Ukrainian capability in striking Belgorod, so now in response to some shelling and a couple Ukrainian incursions into Belgorod region, a buffer zone will be created to push artillery beyond range of striking Belgorod.
Now it seems a new front might open from Belarus as well further stretching the Ukrainian lines.
And they are already saying if longer range stuff starts flying a much deeper buffer zone will be made.
So you got to ask was a couple of short PR stunts, worth it. Escalation ladder is not one sided , and this war has many ways to become much nastier for Ukrainians.
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This!
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The military benefit of Ukraine’s bombing campaign is also of questionable value, U.S. officials say.
“Ukraine is better served in going after tactical and operational targets that can directly influence the current fight,” Austin told lawmakers.
The concern among U.S. military planners is that the strikes do little to diminish Russia’s war-fighting abilities and have resulted in a massive Russian counterattack on Ukraine’s electricity grid that hurts Ukraine far more than the refinery attacks hurt Russia.
“Drone attacks do not destroy entire refineries and usually do not even destroy individual units, but only damage them,” Sergey Vakulenko, an oil industry expert, wrote in an analysis for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “The Ust-Luga and Ryazan refineries were both back in operation a few weeks after being attacked.”
In recent weeks, Russia has unleashed a barrage of exploding drones and missiles on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, leaving millions without power and raising fears that the attacks could bring Ukraine’s economy to a halt. The attacks destroyed a power plant in the Kyiv region and damaged Ukraine’s biggest hydroelectric power plant and multiple thermal power plants.
In the end they are running out of men to kidnap for service , cant print men on demand like you can dollars and euros