In the aftermath of the negotiations shuffle, Ukraine has intensified a new campaign of infrastructure strikes against Russia. This has come amidst a spate of announcements about various new Ukrainian long-range weapons systems reportedly nearing introduction into the AFU’s arsenal. This includes the so-called ‘Flamingo’ and the new ERAM missiles promised by the US—but we’ll get to those later.
The intensified strikes Ukraine has already been conducting with its own standard arsenal of drones has included faraway Russian refineries, and the Druzbha pipeline which brings oil to Europe, and particularly Hungary and Slovakia. The latter make it obvious why the strikes were organized, as Hungary’s Orban and Slovakia’s Fico represent two of the biggest thorns in Ukraine’s side when it comes to Zelensky’s various EU-related pipe dreams and assorted anti-Russian initiatives.
As a tangential note, let us mention something about the effects of these strikes. As most know, doomers and concern-trolls alike constantly try to play up these attacks as somehow devastating to Russia, ignoring how quickly most of them are repaired, and how inconsequential they are in the grand scheme of things. As poignant example of this, here is Hungarian FM Peter Szijjarto’s statement regarding the Druzbha strikes—take note of the first sentence:
It was confirmed a couple days later that the pipeline was quickly restored and put back into operation:
BUDAPEST, August 28. /TASS/. Oil supplies from Russia to Hungary and Slovakia through the Druzhba pipeline, which had come under attack by the Ukrainian armed forces, have been restored, according to Hungarian company MOL, which receives crude oil through this route for its refineries.
And keep in mind, this Bryansk pumping station point of the pipeline was hit not once, but three times in the span between August 12th and 23rd, and even the damage from this score of strikes was able to be restored in six days. Granted, those six days reportedly still left Hungary and Slovakia critically low on oil, but it simply goes to show how ultimately inconsequential and fleeting many of these strikes are, producing little more than brief PR moments.
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