Monday’s missile strike by Russia on as many as five railway stations in Ukraine was intended to destroy the beleaguered state’s connectivity in the midst of a war that is seemingly relentless. The fairly devastating strike occurred not long after US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, met President Zelenskyi in Kiev. 

The missile strikes were integral to a broader assault that was designed to cripple critical infrastructure. Though the number of victims is yet to be disclosed, within an hour, five stations in central and western Ukraine came under fire, said Ukraine’s railway head, Oleksandr Kamyshi. In parallel, fires in Russia’s logistical hub in Bryansk suffered two separate explosions that are being investigated by the Kremlin. 

One was at a civilian oil storage facility, which is part of a pipeline that links Russian oilfields with Europe. Its strategic importance is, therefore, pro- found. The other was at a military oil depot. Russia has accused Ukraine of conducting attacks on border crossing points and other facilities. We do not know the extent to which Russia has been militarily weakened. 

But the attacks on the railway stations will scarcely shore up its standing. Mr Austin’s presentation suggested that Russia had already suffered significant military losses, “including a lot of its troops”. The Pentagon is working to “ensure that Moscow cannot very quickly reproduce that capability”. 

At a meeting in Germany, the United States and its allies will hold more detailed discussions on what Ukraine needs, he said. Mr Austin has been remarkably forthright ~ “We want to see Russia weakened to the degree it cannot do the kind of things that it has done in invading Ukraine”. 

His assertion that America wants to degrade the Russian war machine reflected an increasingly strident approach on the part of the Biden administration. Both Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken believe that Russia has failed in its primary objective of destroying Ukraine. The proposed reopening of the US embassy in Kiev, therefore, falls into a pattern. 

The position will be critical to the conduct of wartime diplomacy. Of a piece is Mr Biden’s nomination of Bridget Brink, now the US ambassador in Slovenia, as the envoy in Ukraine. “Russia is failing and Ukraine is succeeding,” is the prognosis of the person helming the US defence architecture. 

Blinken and Austin have pledged $73 million in fresh assistance to Ukraine and other countries in the region. An additional $322 million in military assistance for Ukraine will raise the total US security assistance to $37 billion. 

It is critical that the US pump-priming has been announced in the immediate aftermath of the destruction of five railway stations, which in turn followed the visit of the American officials. The nitty-gritty has been exposed despite the secret visit of the two US officials.