Russia has begun a 'strategy of escalation' in Ukraine, says analyst

Moscow is trying to "destroy the energy supplies of Ukraine, to make it a very tough winter and thereby break the national morale", according to Dr Neil Melvin, director of International Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute. Melvin said the strategy had been tried before in other conflicts with varying degrees of success which, he claimed, suggested that Moscow is running out of military options. "Its military solution to the war in Ukraine is slipping away and therefore it is trying to find other ways to try to change the situation on the ground."