Ukraine must act asymmetrically, and strikes must weaken the aggressor’s infrastructure and capabilities, says Evgeniy Khmara
Acting Minister of Defence of Ukraine Evgeniy Khmara has explained the thinking behind Ukraine’s response to Russia’s mass strikes on civilian infrastructure in an interview with American journalist Laura Loomer.
We cannot answer strike for strike. We have to act asymmetrically.
While Russia targets civilian infrastructure, petrol stations, energy facilities and public buildings, in order to terrorise the civilian population, Ukraine deliberately chooses different targets, he said.
He stressed that Russia’s interest lies in terrorizing civilians, while Ukraine’s lies in protecting its people. Ukrainian strikes are directed at the aggressor’s military-industrial complex: oil refineries, transport hubs and other assets that fuel its war.
The asymmetric approach, Evgeniy Khmara explained, is above all about the economics of a strike: the aim is for Ukrainian operations to cost around 2% of the damage they inflict on Russia. That principle was the basis of Operation Spiderweb, the drone attack on Russia’s strategic bomber aircraft carried out by the unit Major General Evgeniy Khmara previously commanded.
His experience of combat planning, he said, shapes his approach to logistics and to supplying the troops.
I have a real picture in my head of what is being used, what can be used against the enemy and what could be most effective moving forward.
He underlined that current priorities include protecting supply routes from Russian drones and getting resources to units on time.
Service in a special unit also shaped the principle of trust between the Acting Minister and the military: both sides play by the same rules and rely on one another. It is the source of a rule Evgeniy Khmara still follows today, never to ask of a subordinate anything he is not prepared to do himself.
The Acting Minister of Defence named domestic production of Patriot interceptor missiles as a critical area for defense against Russian ballistic strikes. Once that is achieved, he said, Ukraine will be able to give the United States additional resources for future joint operations.