Russia Today reports a successful US missile strike on Russian troops:
Almost 90 troops were killed by a Ukrainian missile strike that hit a temporary housing area used by Russian forces in the city of Makeyevka in Donetsk People’s Republic just after midnight on January 1, the Defense Ministry announced on Wednesday. The death toll has grown to 89 people, including the unit’s deputy commander, the ministry said, as more bodies were pulled from the rubble of a vocational school where the troops were stationed on New Year’s night.
The facility was targeted by six missiles from a US-supplied HIMARS multiple rocket launcher, four of which penetrated air defenses, and hit the building at precisely 0:01am on January 1, the Defense ministry said, claiming that the launcher was later destroyed in a retaliatory strike
The Saker has a theory about why NATO is launching small missile strikes such as these in Russia:
NATO does not act just to show that it can act. There is a real, military, purpose behind these strikes. And it is not “just” to provoke Russia into some kind of response (not with tens and even hundreds of Russian missile strikes every day already taking place).
The war is already going on, the Russians are already fighting along a very long frontline, the Russian Aerospace Forces are already striking targets over the entire Ukraine, so what is there more to provoke/trigger?
I submit that there is only one thing which the Russians have not done yet, and that is the fullscale combined arms operation the Russian General Staff is obviously preparing. And since this major offensive is almost certain to happen, the only thing which such NATO strikes could affect is the timing of the attack. And since there is no way that these NATO (pinprick) strikes could delay the Russian offensive, their only possible goal would be to make it happen sooner.
Why would NATO want the Russian offensive sooner rather than later? In all its other actions, the AngloZionists have tried to draw out this war for as long as possible, so why would they want to make the Russians attack sooner rather than later?
Because the Russian General Staff is waiting for all the “ducks to be lined” up before attacking. Thus by trying to force the Russians into a premature attack date, NATO is, very logically, trying to prevent all the said “ducks” to be “lined up”. In other words, NATO is trying to force the hand of the Russian General Staff by increasing the pressure on the Kremlin to “finally take action”.
This makes sense, given the way both the Ukrainian and the “foreign mercenary” forces are taking a brutal pounding without being able to do much harm to the gathering Russian forces. It’s also possible that NATO is hoping to convince Russia to make its expected move on its own, rather than waiting for what could be a concerted effort with China launching an attack on Taiwan.
Alternatively, it’s possible that NATO wants Russia to attack before it loses what remains of its support from the Western European countries, as it would be logical to conclude that many people will rally to the flag for fear of the Russians once the winter offensive begins and the Kiev regime is forced to flee Ukraine.
Regardless, it’s unlikely that NATO is launching these HIMARS attacks simply to annoy the Russians and it’s obvious that they are incapable of accomplishing anything meaningful in a strategic sense.