Austria's Colonel Markus Reisner: Escalation, Strategies and Possible Turning Points in the Ukraine War

PeopleOther ♦ Published: August 27, 2024; 18:43 ♦ (Vindobona)

The war in Ukraine has reached a new dimension in recent weeks. With intensified Russian airstrikes, fierce fighting in the Donbas, and a risky Ukrainian offensive across the Russian border, the conflict is facing a potential escalation and strategic realignment. Colonel Markus Reisner, one of the Austrian Armed Forces' strategists and military academics, assesses the situation.

View of the cathedral of Our Lady of the Sign in Kursk. / Picture: © Wikimedia Commons; Алексей Ильин, CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported DEED (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en)

Since the night of August 27, the Russian army has been intensifying its airstrikes on Ukraine. Several cities and regions, including the capital Kyiv, have been hit by missiles. One particularly explosive attack targeted a dam north of Kyiv, the destruction of which could trigger a devastating flood catastrophe. These attacks are interpreted as a Russian reaction to the recent…