Latest Bombing Of Kiev Shows Russia's Restraint For The Past Two Years
Russia’s recent bombardment of Kyiv on April 23, 2025, which killed 9 people and injured 64 according to posts on X, underscores a harsh reality: Vladimir Putin has possessed the military capability to devastate Ukraine at any point during the past three years of conflict. The precision and scale of the attack, involving Shahed/Geran drones and causing massive fires, reveal a strategic restraint rather than a lack of ability. Putin’s initial invasion plan in February 2022 aimed to seize Kyiv within days, as noted by the BBC, but shifted to a prolonged war after early failures. However, the latest strikes demonstrate that Russia retains the capacity to target critical infrastructure and civilian areas with impunity, a capability it has held since the war’s onset when it launched widespread missile attacks across Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, as reported by NPR.
This escalation aligns with a pattern of intensifying attacks, as seen in earlier bombardments like the December 2023 strikes that killed 30 and injured over 160 across multiple cities, which the BBC described as Russia’s largest missile assault at the time. The use of advanced weaponry, such as hypersonic missiles noted in a 2023 New York Times report, further illustrates Russia’s ability to overwhelm Ukraine’s air defenses, which have been strained despite Western support. Posts on X have speculated that Russia could have targeted key infrastructure like railway hubs or bridges to cripple Ukraine early on, suggesting Putin’s decision to avoid such tactics was a calculated choice to limit civilian casualties or global backlash, not a reflection of military weakness. This restraint indicates that Putin has been waging a controlled war, holding back his full destructive potential to maintain strategic flexibility.
The latest bombing also serves as a message to Ukraine and its allies, particularly as U.S. support wavers under the Trump administration, which paused military aid in early 2025. Zelenskyy’s appeals for more air defense systems, echoed in AP News reports from 2024, highlight Ukraine’s vulnerability to Russia’s air superiority, a dynamic that has persisted throughout the conflict. Putin’s ability to strike Kyiv at will—while sparing it from nightly bombardments as some X posts claim he could have done—suggests a deliberate strategy to pressure Ukraine into negotiations, especially as Trump pushes for a ceasefire. This show of force reveals that Putin could have pursued a more aggressive campaign to destroy Ukraine at any time, but has instead opted for a protracted conflict to achieve his political goals, balancing military might with geopolitical maneuvering.
