U.S.-Russia Talks are 'obsolete' after Chernobyl Drone Strike -- Kallas

[Emrys]

16. The fact these "accidents" by the Russians happen with regularity isn't exactly comforting

Someone else has addressed the rationales for strikes on Ukraine's supportive neighbours. One could be put down to carelessness and incompetence; numerous ones looks more like a concerted campaign with frequent oopsies.

In terms of Chornobyl, you have to think in terms of terrorism - just like Putin's urban strike with his Wunderwaffe Oreshnik, this attack wasn't intended to produce all-out obliteration, it's part of Putin's campaign of intimidation and disruptive "what if" scenarios.

The Russians have been occupying and menacing Ukrainian nuclear power plants since early in this latest hot phase of the war, to the extent that the IAEA has had to put up a permanent presence in them to have staff in place to try to cope with any more "mishaps".

A strike on any of the outlying support facilities for these plants, as has happened before, could be even more serious than a hit on them directly - they require backup power to operate relatively safely, which has at times been compromised, which has led to desperate scrambles.

A "stupid accident" here, another one there, and pretty soon you have full-blown disaster.

The symbolic power of the Chornobyl name and the timing in these early stages of possible negotiations are a bit too much of a coincidence to be written off cavalierly as you're doing.

So, as you've already been asked, what "legitimate" wartime target in the vicinity of Chornobyl do you suggest they were aiming for?