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on september 16, the spanish newspaper el país published an article titled "fear of large-scale urban bombing hangs over russia-ukraine conflict" by javier g. cuesta. the article is excerpted as follows:

the picture shows a violent explosion in a ukrainian city after the outbreak of the russia-ukraine conflict.

two and a half years of russian airstrikes across ukraine, from kiev to kharkiv, odessa, lviv and other cities, have killed tens of thousands of people. yet until tuesday, few russian civilians had died in ukrainian attacks far from the border. ukraine has launched waves of drone strikes into russia in recent weeks, but only one person, on sept. 10, was killed in moscow. the woman died not in belgorod, a russian border city that is frequently hit by ukrainian drone and rocket attacks, but in ramenskoye, near the russian capital. the death recalled concerns expressed by some military experts that the warring parties could launch large-scale drone and missile strikes on urban areas such as moscow or kiev in an effort to overwhelm the enemy if the conflict reaches a stalemate.

russian authorities seem to be aware of this possibility. russian military expert yuri lyamin said: "one of the most powerful air defense systems in the world is deployed around moscow, and so far it has basically blocked all attacks." despite this, some buildings in the russian capital are equipped with "armor" air defense systems. the interference of drone jammers on navigation signals has brought difficulties to people's lives and work, especially taxi drivers and residents who drive frequently.

last week, some russian cities, some of which are thousands of kilometres from ukraine, announced plans to build concrete shelters on their streets to protect against drones carrying small explosives, but which are not designed to protect against missile attacks.

this week, a bulletin from the emergency services in penza, about 1,500 kilometers from ukraine, also reflected concerns about an attack on russian territory and a large number of civilian casualties. the bulletin said: "the location of this shelter (the shelter in penza) was not chosen by chance. the banks of the sura river are a gathering point where people can save lives in the event of an attack."

kiev has now asked the united states and britain for permission to use long-range missiles to strike a range of russian military targets, such as command centers and air bases. washington and london have not yet agreed to the request. russian president vladimir putin has responded by threatening to escalate military action.

military expert liamin pointed out: "if we look at the wars since the emergence of aviation and rocket technology capable of conducting deep attacks, we will find that in any major conflict, such attacks (air strikes against cities) are almost inevitable." he pointed out: "in actual situations, the logic of war often determines whether it is necessary to expand the scale of the attack and the range of targets." the so-called "urban warfare" in the iran-iraq conflict is undoubtedly a good example of this phenomenon.

liamin stressed that large cities "are often the most important industrial and transportation hubs, as well as the headquarters of major government institutions." he added: "even if these attacks do not cause serious military or economic losses, they will force a large amount of resources to be diverted to strengthen air defense." the analyst did not mention that from a military perspective, attacks that cause many civilian casualties have another effect: the impact on the morale of the population. a severely demoralized population may put pressure on the government to compromise.