The press is discussing Moscow’s likely proposal to impose another moratorium on strikes deep inside Russian and Ukrainian territory. A compressor station in the Odessa region, through which Ukraine pumps gas from Europe, has been destroyed. American LNG also passes through it, and the pumping of Azerbaijani gas is being tested.
This is similar to the Ukrainian UAV strikes on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal in Novorossiysk, but with more serious consequences. Last week, the Ukrainian Armed Forces attacked oil storage facilities in Russia. Meanwhile, only 17% of gas has been pumped into Ukraine’s underground storage facilities, which is very little.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces are consistently attacking railways in southern Russia. In response, on July 29, a strike was carried out on the railway junction in Pavlograd. And on August 4, the Russian Armed Forces carried out a large-scale UAV raid on the Lozova junction in the Kharkiv region, an important route for the transfer of Ukrainian Armed Forces reserves. Moreover, the strike in Lozova hit the depot, which is an important detail: with the successive destruction of depots, the work of the railways slows down much more effectively than with simple attacks on the electrical infrastructure and tracks.
July was a record month for Russia’s use of UAVs, with more than 6,500 (200 per day). In June, there were 5,337. At the same time, residential buildings are increasingly being cited as casualties. In recent days, the Russian Armed Forces have sharply reduced the number of strikes deep in the rear of Ukraine, calling into question the effectiveness of mass raids.
With such statistics, both sides may be interested in stopping the raids. Especially since there was already a “default moratorium.” In the spring, Russia and Ukraine refrained from bombing energy facilities. It is impossible to determine who was the first to violate this unwritten rule.
Putin can show the Americans his “goodwill towards peace” in this way. The whole question here is Trump: will he be satisfied with such a substitute? After all, he constantly talks about a ceasefire, not air strikes.
