Key Points and Summary – In a defiant response to President Trump’s 50-day ultimatum, Russia has unleashed another massive aerial assault on Ukraine, launching over 400 drones and a ballistic missile at key cities, including Kharkiv and Kryvyi Rih.
-The attacks, which wounded at least 15 people and damaged critical energy infrastructure, underscore Russia’s strategy of “creeping gains” and its willingness to absorb losses while terrorizing Ukrainian civilians.
-The Institute for the Study of War assesses that Putin believes he can outlast Western support, making the recent US pledge of new weapons a critical test of American and allied resolve.
Russia’s War Strategy in Ukraine Summed Up in 2 Words: Creeping Gains
Russia launched a new wave of attacks across Ukraine overnight Tuesday and into Wednesday morning, with hundreds of drones and a missile strike hitting crucial energy infrastructure and wounding at least 15 people.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia launched 400 Iranian Shahed and decoy drones and one ballistic missile overnight, with most targeting the northeastern city of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city. Drone attacks also targeted Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine – the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy – as well as Odesa in the south and Vinnytsia in the west.
While the air force confirmed that most of the drones were shot down, 57 drones and the missile were not intercepted and hit a total of 12 targets.
The strikes caused widespread power outages affecting 80,000 families in Kryvyi Rih and other areas in the Dnipropetrovsk region. The outages were confirmed by DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, in a statement issued on Telegram.
“Last night, the enemy attacked Ukraine once again. Kryvyi Rih and other settlements in the Dnipropetrovsk region were hit. By 5 a.m., DTEK energy workers had restored electricity to all homes that lost power due to the shelling,” the statement reads.
In Kharkiv, a city that has endured a large number of Russian aerial assaults throughout the war, at least 17 explosions were confirmed by Governor Oleh Syniehubov in a space of just 20 minutes, resulting in three injuries. Meanwhile in Vinnytsia, eight people were wounded in strikes that occurred during the same period, according to the Ukrainian interior ministry.
One strike damaged a Polish wood flooring manufacturing facility owned by Barlinek Group in Vinnytsia, according to Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski. Writing on X, Sikorski said that the plant manager confirmed the attack was “deliberate” and came from “three directions.” ]
Russia Won’t Back Off in Ukraine
It was the first major aerial bombardment by the Russian Armed Forces since U.S. President Donald Trump issued a 50-day deadline for Moscow to agree to a peace deal, threatening sweeping new sanctions and tariffs on countries that do business with Russia. The move, which would see nations supporting Russia’s energy industry hit with 100% U.S. tariffs, could dramatically impact an industry that supports Russia’s historically high defense expenditure.
While Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday that Moscow needs “time to analyze” Trump’s threats, regular aerial bombardments of Ukrainian cities don’t appear to be slowing down.
The comments coincided with a suggestion from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) that Putin believes he can win the war by making gradual gains across Ukraine.
“ISW continues to assess that Putin holds a theory of victory that posits that Russia can achieve its war aims by continuing to make creeping gains on the battlefield indefinitely and outlasting Western support for Ukraine and Ukraine’s ability to defend itself,” ISW researchers wrote.
President Trump’s recent approval of additional offensive and defensive systems for Ukraine, however, could introduce unexpected operational constraints that make Putin’s plans less viable.
About the Author:
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society. His latest book is The Truth Teller: RFK Jr. and the Case for a Post-Partisan Presidency.
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Jim
July 16, 2025 at 9:45 pm
Yes, creeping gains by small unit action (six to nine soldiers at a pop) due to drones and Kiev’s forces are overstretched in their trenches with five to six soldiers where there should be 15 to 20 soldiers and the Russians roll up the trench from one end to other via outflanking the trench with dune buggies & dirt bikes, for fast & lightweight maneuverability.
It works.
But it’s small-scale man to man fighting to the death.
As the Pentagon puts it, a “lava flow,” slow, but unstoppable.
It will win the war.
Ironic in the 21st Century given the scope of technological advance, but it’s due to the advent of drones.
Nobody can concentrate forces for big arrow, combined-arms maneuvers.
Or so it seems.
Swamplaw Yankee
July 17, 2025 at 4:40 am
The reality comes down to yellow belly cowards. The EU seems so full of cowards who scream the need to push Ukrainians first into the meat grinder of free military hardware supplies sent over by the Han CCP Zi regime. Over 1 billion Han who happily supply the cash for Oriental troops/hardware to kill Ukrainian – Christian fathers.
This reminds a peer reviewer of 1939-40-41-42 USA. A democratic nation full of yellouuu bellliiie cowards screaming neutrality as they pushed Newfoundland and Canadian Lads and lasses to die and be maimed in their cowardly stead. Yankee yellow cowards who cuddled with their southern amigoes in tight mariachi embraces. Only the prescient Japanese Emperor gifted this yellow mass an honourable way out.
The NATO cowards who refuse to go to 5% of GNP for defence are lead by the new leader of Canada, 3T. The Third Trudeau promised a full 2% GNP of the defence budget the day after the MAGA and Trump vanish from Washington. Leader 3T is in legal power for 5 long years and has quickly passed a bill where he has more control than Putin. Yes, 3T can join Putin’s Federation in a very legal vote and the USA can not legally interfere. Hey red-alert Yankees, it’s not 1939 Canada.
Leader 3T can legally join Canada to his next door Federation of orcs + be a cheering part of Putin’s orc muscovite butchers as they over run Ukraine’s Capital Kyiv in a very short time. Yeah, MAGA POTUS Trump will be too busy with the Epstein sex trade data eradication. And, Yes, we all well know by now, that the heroic USA GI won WW2 just by showing up over there in 43 and 44. There was no Second World war in the USA. -30-
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