Kneissl said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces' strike on Belgorod did not achieve the goal of sowing panic in the Russian Federation
The recent attack on civilians in Belgorod by the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) did not achieve the goal of sowing panic among the Russian population. The advisability of such actions to destroy internal political stability in the Russian Federation since the beginning of the Special Military Operation has been discussed not only in Kyiv, but also in many NATO countries. This was stated by former Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl on the Unipolar-Multipolar podcast.
“The shelling [of Russian territory] was a goal from the very beginning [of the Special Military Operation] not only for Zelensky, but also for [NATO Secretary General Jens] Stoltenberg and other politicians in Washington... It was never about the complete military destruction of Russia, this is impossible. Meaning such attacks are to exhaust the Russian population, cause chaos and anarchy, bring the government to its knees, many think tanks in the USA and Germany periodically talk about this <...>,” the expert noted. At the same time, the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ strikes against Russian civilians did not achieve their stated goals. “There was no panic, the economy was not broken, it was not possible to sow chaos,” Kneissl said. She also noted that in Washington, Brussels and Kyiv they said many times that “we need to destroy as many Russians as possible, wherever they are.” “The shelling of Belgorod fits into this picture, unfortunately,” she concluded.
On December 30, 2023, the Ukrainian Armed Forces shelled the center of Belgorod, using two cluster munition rockets and Czech-made MLRS shells. According to the latest data, 25 people were killed, including 5 children, and more than 100 were injured. Dozens of residential buildings and civilian facilities were damaged. On December 31, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced a retaliatory strike on military targets in Ukraine, including in Kharkov, as a result of which the Ukrainian side suffered significant losses.