AndreusMaximus
Master
I've been wondering about something that I don't fully understand; why haven't we seen Russia launch a full-scale bombing campaign?
When everything first broke out I really thought that if it wasn't over in a month, Russia was going to start leveling Ukrainian cities with conventional bombs, WW2-style. I don't honestly know that much about what equipment Russia has, but I had imagined that they would still have a sizable number of older bombers on hand, that they wouldn't be afraid to throw at Ukraine in large numbers. I imagine a Cold War era bomber probably costs less than a single modern missile that could bring it down, and even with Ukraine being provided with anti-air weapons by multiple other countries, I had imagined Putin would be happy to just send waves of older bombers, knowing that the missile used to shoot them down probably cost more than the bomber does.
But it just seems like this isn't happening. Really, while I don't wish to downplay the horror of any civilian deaths, it seems like everything we've seen so far, thanks be to God, has been fairly tame compared to what I feared at the outset. A missile here, an artillery shell there, seems to be the extent of civilian casualties, where I would have expected at this point in the war to see Kyiv, and/or other strategically significant or populous cities, getting bombed into oblivion.
Does Ukraine seriously have enough capability with the equipment we've given them to deter such a tactic? Or does Russia just not have nearly the number of serviceable aircraft that I imagined? Or is Putin afraid that causing too many civilian deaths will cause other countries to get involved further? Or is it just that the gloves really haven't come off yet?
When everything first broke out I really thought that if it wasn't over in a month, Russia was going to start leveling Ukrainian cities with conventional bombs, WW2-style. I don't honestly know that much about what equipment Russia has, but I had imagined that they would still have a sizable number of older bombers on hand, that they wouldn't be afraid to throw at Ukraine in large numbers. I imagine a Cold War era bomber probably costs less than a single modern missile that could bring it down, and even with Ukraine being provided with anti-air weapons by multiple other countries, I had imagined Putin would be happy to just send waves of older bombers, knowing that the missile used to shoot them down probably cost more than the bomber does.
But it just seems like this isn't happening. Really, while I don't wish to downplay the horror of any civilian deaths, it seems like everything we've seen so far, thanks be to God, has been fairly tame compared to what I feared at the outset. A missile here, an artillery shell there, seems to be the extent of civilian casualties, where I would have expected at this point in the war to see Kyiv, and/or other strategically significant or populous cities, getting bombed into oblivion.
Does Ukraine seriously have enough capability with the equipment we've given them to deter such a tactic? Or does Russia just not have nearly the number of serviceable aircraft that I imagined? Or is Putin afraid that causing too many civilian deaths will cause other countries to get involved further? Or is it just that the gloves really haven't come off yet?