Defenders argue Ukraine's strikes on Russian infrastructure are justified

Several authors in The Guardian's letters section have challenged the position previously expressed by Professor Christian Enemark that Ukraine's strikes on Moscow and other targets in Russia constitute unjustifiable 'morale bombing'. They argue that Enemark ignores the strategic and moral realities facing Ukraine.

The letter writers emphasize that Russian civilians are not without moral agency—they fund, staff, and politically sustain a war machine that has systematically targeted Ukrainian hospitals, schools, and residential buildings. This blurs the distinction between combatants and civilians.

They further argue that attacks on oil refineries and energy facilities are not equivalent to the area bombing campaigns of World War II. These are strikes on dual-use infrastructure that directly enables Russia's war effort—such targets have long been recognized as potentially legitimate under international humanitarian law, provided proportionality is observed. Incidental civilian harm does not automatically make these strikes indiscriminate.

According to the authors, Ukraine is not retaliating for its own satisfaction but is trying to shorten a war in which its own civilian population continues to suffer grievously. If bringing the costs of that war home to Russian society accelerates its end, the calculus of harm may favor such a strategy. The strikes also force Russia to move air defense systems to Moscow, creating gaps that Ukraine can exploit to liberate occupied territories.

The authors reject claims that Ukraine deliberately targets civilians. They cite the June 18 strike on the Moscow oil refinery, where only one drone missed its target, with no evidence of intentional civilian targeting. Instead, injuries likely resulted from debris of intercepted drones or Russian air defenses.

Finally, they criticize Western allies for not doing more. They note that Europe continues to import Russian energy and that the West could have 'closed the skies' over Ukraine, preventing many civilian deaths. Ukraine already pays deeply for Russia's moral failings; it should not have to pay for the moral failings of its allies.