Russia attacks Ukraine for the second time in a row with “outrageous” and “cowardly” missile attacks on civilian areas

Ukraine is still reeling from Monday's Russian missile attack, the worst since the war began, and Moscow is already hinting that Ukraine may take desperate steps.

“Russia's large-scale attacks on Ukraine's critical infrastructure on Monday are almost certainly a response to Ukraine's incursion into Kursk Oblast and the resulting breach of the Russian border,” Rebekah Koffler told Fox News Digital.

“Zelensky probably expected Russia's retaliation and took the risk anyway,” explains Koffler. “Zelensky wants to stay in the fight – there is no other way for him, either personally or professionally.”

“To stay in the fight, he needs more weapons and funding from the West,” she added. “Zelensky is likely to demand that the Biden administration lift restrictions on the use of US weapons so that Ukrainian forces can attack targets deeper inside Russia that are currently within range.”

ON UKRAINIAN INDEPENDENCE DAY, OVER 100 PRISONERS OF WAR WERE EXCHANGED WITH RUSSIA

On Monday, Russia fired 100 missiles and 100 drones as Ukraine continued its incursion into the Kursk region, Russia's first land invasion since World War II and the biggest setback for Russian President Vladimir Putin since his troops entered Ukraine. The attacks crippled key energy infrastructure in 15 regions of the country, killing five people and injuring scores more, French news magazine Le Monde reported.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed on his Telegram channel that Western allies had effectively hampered Ukraine by restricting the use of weapons, arguing: “We could do much more to protect lives if the air forces of our European neighbors worked together with our F-16 fighter jets. [fighters] and air defense.”

Russia followed up that massive attack with a second salvo on Monday evening that killed at least two people as missiles and drones rained down on the Zaporizhia region in the southeast, the BBC reported. Ukraine used newly deployed F16 fighter jets to shoot down five missiles and 60 drones, limiting the impact of the second attack to a few dozen missiles in total.

President Biden criticized Russia for the “outrageous” attacks and promised to support Ukraine's energy network. British Foreign Secretary David Lammy derided Russia for “cowardly missile and drone attacks on civilian infrastructure.”

WAR DOGS: BRITAIN'S NEW ROBOTS HELP UKRAINE AND TERRORIZE RUSSIA AS DRONES CONTINUE TO DOMINATE THE BATTLEFIELD

Ukraine has begun compiling a list of distant targets it could attack if its Western allies comply with Zelensky's request and lift restrictions on defensive strike capacity.

This photo shows damaged houses at a site after an airstrike in Ukraine's Odessa region on August 26, 2024 during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Oleksandr Gimanov/AFP via Getty Images)

The invasion of Kursk, which continues to surprise Moscow, was aimed at diverting attention from other areas – particularly the Pokrovsk and Kurakhove sectors, according to Reuters.

Ukrainian General Alexander Syrskyi said in a televised speech that Russia had tried to cut off Ukraine's supply lines to these two areas, but after the invasion of Kursk, Moscow had to move about 30,000 troops to the Kursk front, “and this number is growing.”

Ukrainian forces fight during military operations in the Kursk Region in Malaya Loknya, Kursk Region, Russia in this screenshot from a handout video released on August 20, 2024. (95th Air Assault Brigade/Handout via REUTERS)

Syrskyi also reported that Ukraine captured 594 Russian soldiers and 100 settlements during the Kursk operation, and claimed that Ukraine repelled Russia's attempts to counter its advance.

Russia tries to downplay invasion of Ukraine as ‘new normal’ while Putin fails to end war on home soil: report

Koffler warned, however, that while Ukraine's efforts are significant, they are a double-edged sword that could harm Kiev in the long run, as Russia tries to time its attacks so that they “stay below the threshold at which US and NATO troops are sent into the war zone.”

“While Kiev was trying to stretch the Russian forces, it was also stretching its own,” Koffler explained. “And the balance of power clearly favors Russia in this war of attrition.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (right) welcomes Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an official meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, August 23, 2024. (Yan Dobronosov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)

“Putin, on the other hand, wants to deter Ukraine from future attacks on Russia and force the West to stop supporting Kyiv,” she said. “His goal is not a decisive military victory, but to weaken Ukraine's defense and industrial capabilities to make them useless to NATO and the West.”

“Putin would rather end this war sooner rather than later, but only on his terms,” ​​she said. “The key question now is whether the Biden-Harris administration will change its policy and allow Ukraine to more aggressively undermine Russia's red lines.”

Peace efforts remain a long way off, but several world leaders are trying to broker a deal between Russia and Ukraine to end the conflict. For example, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, in his first week as rotating president of the European Union, immediately visited both Zelensky and Putin to seek a path to peace.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been trying to reach a peace deal over the past week, visiting Zelensky over the weekend before speaking to President Biden on Monday and Putin on Tuesday.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Modi, who arrived in Kyiv by train from Poland, stressed to Zelensky that “both sides need to sit together and look for ways out of this crisis,” the BBC reported. Zelensky expressed his displeasure two months ago when Modi was photographed hugging Putin during a face-to-face meeting.

Modi turned his attention back to Putin after talks with Ukraine and the US, speaking to his Russian counterpart by phone on Tuesday. A transcript of the call did not mention what the two leaders had discussed.

Caitlin McFall of Fox News Digital and Reuters contributed to this report.