History professor Sergey Radchenko examines a 1994 study that examines the effects of targeting national grids in the Korean, Vietnam, and Gulf Wars. He concludes that, while such campaigns might lower civilian morale, they don’t produce changes in government policy. Radchenko considers this to be an implication that Russia’s efforts to destroy Ukraine’s power grid are likely to be ineffective as well.
Wonder if anyone in Moscow had thought this through or what on earth they are thinking. Seems like there is absolute dearth of strategy or even basic reflection.
Sergey Radchenko
However, changes in our reliance on technology (namely our massively increased reliance on it for many parts of daily life) since the 1994 could result in a larger effect on civilian morale, and potentially a greater likelihood that they’d affect policy.