Putin's war doctrine - not to "liberate" - but to burn everything in its path

October became the month of Russian military attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure. The Ukrainians were reportedly returned on February 24, when rockets hit targets across the country. There are only two major differences between October 2022 and February 2022.

First, Ukrainians are no longer terrified by the next missile and drone, but are even more motivated and determined to win the war that Russia has launched against Ukraine. Second, the shelling of energy facilities is not only aimed at destroying Ukraine's energy infrastructure so that people are left without electricity and heating. We will try to explain one by one.

Although the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Alexei Danilov on October 10 denied the information of the Ukrainian Minister of Energy Herman Galushchenko about 30 percent damage to the energy infrastructure, then dozens of settlements in 12 regions of the country were left without water, electricity, heat and communications. Because of this, since October 11, Ukraine stopped exporting electricity and thus stopped supplying EU countries with electricity.

According to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, this is exactly what the next "turning point" in the war with Ukraine should look like. And, we have to admit, it happened. With even greater support for Ukraine. In just one day, Ukrainians collected 352 million Ukrainian hryvnias for the needs of the army, on October 12, the European Union provided Ukraine with a second tranche of 550 million euros as part of the European Investment Bank's (EIB) emergency response package of 1.59 billion euros. The remaining 540 million euros will be used to rebuild the energy infrastructure.

On October 13, 99 out of 100 member states of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe - PACE voted to recognize the Russian regime as terrorist, and the day before, 143 out of 183 countries condemned Russia for the annexation of Ukrainian territories, supported the integrity of Ukraine, including Zaporozhye, Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson regions and the Crimean peninsula. It was definitely not part of Putin's plans and it affected his reputation in international organizations and the world community even more.

EU countries began to join together even more to help each other in securing energy resources, and no one accepted the proposal of the President of the Russian Federation to open the valve on the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline to supposedly help Europe winterize.

Russia only wants to help itself not to lose even more money. Only Europe has already decided to live without Russia, and even Switzerland, which until recently was neutral, joined the ninth package of sanctions against the Russian Federation. That hasn't happened since World War II.

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin was left almost alone in the war against Ukraine. In none of the wars was there such support from one side and such condemnation from the other side. And that condemnation is growing more and more. After the crimes committed by Russia, after the attack on the energy infrastructure of Ukraine.

The Russian Federation entered the war phase not with the Ukrainian army, but with the civilian population that is the target of its armed forces. How else to explain the shelling of houses and streets just at the time when people go to work. The same applies to energy facilities. This is being done in a targeted way so that Ukrainians remain without electricity, heating, water and communications, and Europe without Ukrainian electricity.

As soon as the energy industry managed to more or less stabilize the situation in the country, the Russian army started targeting energy facilities again.

The strikes are so precise that it looks like a well-strategically well-prepared procedure. As if the objects to be shelled were marked on the map in advance, on October 10 it was not possible to put them out of operation, so it was done again on October 17. And then on October 22, the energy infrastructure of the seemingly safe western part of Ukraine was hit.

Naval battle – is the fight until the consequences for companies and people are felt so much that you turn the war in your favor. And to reach the goal of 30 percent or even more destroyed power plants. Especially since winter will be almost the hardest.

The shelling of Ukrainian gas facilities and new waves of attacks from the Russian Federation and Belarus during the winter are also not excluded. According to information published by the Ukrainian government, repeated strikes on energy facilities are possible. Again, they did it not only with the aim of leaving Ukraine without electricity, water or communication. The motives will be different - they will simply destroy everything that does not belong and will never belong to Russia. Putin's scorched earth technique. You can't "release" - burn.

This will last as long as Russia has the strength to fight. No negotiations with or without Western representatives will have any effect until Russia stops fighting.

Ukraine has the support of the democratic world, but even more is needed for Russia to tire of the war, to stop shelling and missile attacks, and for the Russian army to leave the territory of Ukraine.