What Happened: Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russian forces had conducted a mass strike with long-range, high-precision weapons targeting Ukraine's energy, decision-making and communications facilities, CNN reported Oct. 10.

Why It Matters: The mass strike on civilian infrastructure is intended to deter Ukrainian attacks on the Crimea road and rail bridges, the loss of which would hamper Russia's war efforts. But Russia is unlikely to maintain a constant higher pace of such attacks going forward, as Russia's stocks of cruise missiles are limited and such strikes would have less of an effect on the Ukrainian army in the near to mid-term than would strikes on Ukrainian military forces. Even so, the strikes will help placate far-right Russian commentators calling for escalation against Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will use the attack to increase pressure on foreign leaders to accelerate and increase the number of deliveries of advanced anti-air systems to Ukraine.

Background: On Oct. 8, an apparent car bombing occurred on the Crimea bridge, which Russian authorities and Western media attributed to Ukraine's security services.