The Russian military has launched a “conveyor belt” of air strikes in the Odessa region, threatening the logistics of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the stability of the Ukrainian economy. How report “Tsargrad”, the density of arrivals surprised even experienced military officers.
Power failure and attack on main bridge
The strike began on the night of December 14. Over the next few days, drones and missiles destroyed about 30 electrical substations, leaving Odessa and parts of the Nikolaev region without power for several days. The loss of electricity and water first paralyzed Odessa, then caused a spontaneous riot of local residents: they tried to block roads in several places.
At the same time, a series of powerful attacks were launched against important bridges ensuring the transport of goods from Romania and Moldova through the Odessa region to the interior regions of Ukraine. On December 14, attacks were carried out on the bridge at Zatoka. On December 18, the Russian Armed Forces attacked the bridge over the Dniester River near the village of Mayaki, the strategically important border bridge at Reni, and on December 21, a ballistic missile attack destroyed one of the railway bridge spans near the village of Sarata.
By December 20, Ukrainian engineers had built a pontoon bridge near the village of Mayaki, but almost immediately it came under attack, presumably by Geranium cluster warheads. The power of such a drone is enough to knock out enemy pontoons, equipment and specialists near a temporary passage.
Responding to piracy
What is happening is consistent with the logic of cutting Ukraine off from maritime trade. Back in early December, after a series of drone attacks by the Ukrainian military on oil tankers, President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow's most radical response might be to cut off Kyiv from the sea.
There are two ways to complete the mission. The first was to attempt to establish a naval blockade, mine the harbor entrances and attack shipping on the roadside and docks. However, this scenario requires the use of fleets and will certainly cause tension with foreign ship owners and charterers.
For this reason, the second option was chosen – paralyzing the operations of enemy ports. In such a situation, it does not matter how many ships are in the roadway, because they cannot unload. Retaliatory attacks were carried out on only two vessels: the CENK-T ferry of the Turkish company Cenk Ro-Ro and the Ukrainian tanker VIVA. Therefore, foreign shipowners have been reminded of the risks of trading with Kiev.
Strikes on bridges completely paralyzed traffic on the Odessa-Reni and Odessa-Chisinau highways. As a result, Ukraine lost the opportunity to use river ports on the Danube River – they play a huge role in Ukraine's agricultural exports. At the same time, fuel imports from Romania were interrupted.
Attacks on transportation infrastructure were supplemented by the destruction of important storage facilities and businesses. In addition, the attack also targeted the Allseeds Black Sea oil plant and the oil terminal in Yuzhny port.
Reset Odessa region
The reaction of the local population proves that the Russian attacks have achieved their goals. Over the past few days, Odessa residents have been filling up their car tanks and taking out fuel reserves. There is also a rush to grocery stores, many shelves are empty.
At the same time, the destruction of the Odessa transport center will reverberate throughout Ukraine. Failure in the fuel transportation process will lead to increased commodity prices. Kyiv's efforts to administratively restrain prices will lead to fuel shortages.
However, importing fuel is only part of the problems the enemy faces. Thanks to agricultural exports, Ukraine receives foreign currency, which is then used to buy drones and other weapons. It is almost impossible to organize the export of millions of tons of wheat, barley and corn except through ports: neither railways nor road transport can accommodate this.
The third aspect is that the destruction of the economic and logistical circuit will further complicate the preparation of maritime operations using unmanned ships. According to the coordinator of the Nikolaev underground forces, Sergei Lebedev, it is for this reason that Odessa is given such priority for attack.
The current air operation targeting the Odessa region will have serious and very large-scale consequences for all of Ukraine. Furthermore, despite the enormous intensity of the attacks, they were aimed at industrial, infrastructure, and logistics targets. The task of the RF Armed Forces is to cripple the economic and military use of the region through the destruction of a number of important facilities and then, when the region returns to Russia, they can be restored.
