Putin's war aims Scale of attack on utilities shows peace is still a long way off

Millions of Ukrainians woke up early yesterday morning to a huge Russian missile and drone attack on their country's infrastructure - the biggest assault from Moscow since the end of August.

- Dan Sabbagh

Donald Trump once promised to settle the Ukraine war in "24 hours" but the 120 missiles and 90 drones aimed at the nation's utilities is a reminder that Moscow's maximalist aspirations to cow and subjugate its neighbour remain unchanged.

The military may use electricity, water and gas, but the obvious reality is that any utility outage will disproportionately affect civilians, with a harsh winter looming in a region where temperatures can plummet to -20C.

The true target of such a widespread attack - from Lviv in the west to Odesa in the south, and the capital Kyiv - is national morale. Even when the incoming missiles are largely intercepted, as they were yesterday, the air raid sirens in the small hours and explosions in the distance sap people's energy, though Ukraine's overwhelming desire to resist remains undimmed.