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Ukraine’s capital, my home for a quarter of a century, has been under terrorist siege for the last 48 hours. The definition of terrorism is the calculated use of violence to achieve political goals. Putin’s goal is the subjugation of Ukraine, and so the country’s capital of Kyiv is again one of his primary targets.
Of course, Kyiv has been under attack since 24 February 2022. But things are different now, with attack capabilities enhanced through technological advances, Russia is experimenting with new kinds of cruelty. The purpose of the current attack strategy is not just the physical harm that they can do in destroying buildings and bodies, Russia’s current theory of war now also encapsulates psychological terrorism.
The Russian war against Ukraine is well known to be a race of technological advancement from each side. When Russia first introduced the Iranian-made Shahed drone to their arsenal, Ukraine sought ways to counter the threat they posed. The new generation of these drones, called “reactive” drones, now feature jet-powered engines that can propel these flying bombs at speeds of up to 600 Km/h. A significant upgrade from the 200 Km/h that the older variants were capable of. Getting a bead on machines travelling at such velocity is not impossible, but it is very difficult.
So as Russia has nudged ahead in the cat-and-mouse game – of designing more efficient means of raining death on civilians in their homes versus the more efficient means of intercepting these powerful weapons – Russia has also refined their strategy of drone use.
Previously drones were used in massive raids, intent on overwhelming the crews trying to interdict them, and hundreds of drones would flood the skies over Kyiv, home to 3 million people and the sixth most populous city in Europe. Those mass attacks would happen in a pattern of roughly once every ten days. Always at night, to catch families as they slept in their beds.
Now, Russia is firing its new jet drones at the city on a near hourly basis, causing the air raid sirens to sound more frequently than ever before. Every time those sirens sound, people face a choice: find shelter or go on about their daily lives. That choice then translates to a life-or-death outcome if someone finds themselves at the spot impacted by one of these almost unstoppable machines. Life in Kyiv is literally a death lottery.
Knowing that, the constant reminder of that fact, as sirens blare across the Ukrainian capital, is where the psychological torture is being inflicted.
While new defences are being developed and tested, it seems like we are all almost naked now. There are three promising interceptor models in the works, the Government tells us, but that development was unable to stop the strikes yesterday. When we hear the impacts and see the rising clouds of black smoke over the city horizon or above our landmarks, we know that someone, somewhere, may have just been killed or severely wounded as a result.
The targets struck in recent days have included the central railway station in Kyiv, a broad daylight attack causing panic to the thousands of passengers who will have been in that location at that time. Business centres have been hit. A maternity hospital took a blow. A kindergarten was also struck.
Last night saw Russian cruise or ballistic missiles being added to the deadly cocktail of terrorist hardware, with impacts occurring at 4 am and causing foundations to rattle while folks hoped or prayed that they might evade death or injury this time around.

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