Just as Germany’s Blitz hardened the resolve of those in the United Kingdom, Russia’s terror bombing of Kyiv appears to be producing a similar outcome in Ukraine today.
In the early morning hours of Sunday, September 7, Russia launched its largest drone assault of its ongoing war in Ukraine—sending more than 800 unmanned aerial systems at targets in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, and striking a government building for the first time.
Ukraine claimed to have countered 747 drones and four missiles, but more still made it through, hitting the Cabinet of Ministers building, which houses the prime minister’s office and other government ministries. At least two people were also killed in the attack, including an infant, while 44 more were injured as drones hit several residential buildings.
According to CNN, Kyiv was “under an air-raid siren for 11 hours.”
A Repeat of the World War II “Blitz”
Russia’s actions were met by international condemnation.
“These cowardly strikes show that Putin believes he can act with impunity. He is not serious about peace. Now, more than ever, we must stand firm in our support for Ukraine and its sovereignty,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement.
Curiously, the attack on Ukraine’s capital came 85 years to the day that Germany began its “Blitz” bombing campaign against the UK in 1940. On Saturday, September 7, 1940—so-called “Black Saturday”—German bombers launched a civilian bombing attack against London, leaving 430 dead and more than 1,600 injured. The British capital was then bombed for 57 consecutive nights, while Nazi Germany also carried out daytime attacks.
Kyiv has endured more than three and a half years of war, but like London, it has weathered the attacks. And much as it was during the Blitz, the attacks haven’t been limited to just the capital. The other relatively compact and industrialized cities of Ukraine, like those in the UK eight and a half decades ago, have seen even greater devastation.
The Message from the Blitz (and Ukraine): Terror Bombing Doesn’t Work
There are other notable similarities, but also key differences, to Russia’s ongoing air assault on Ukraine’s cities and that of the Nazi’s Blitz, which lasted until May 1941. Both seemed aimed at breaking the will of the people to resist the invader—and should be seen as campaigns of terror, even if the Kremlin maintains a flimsy pretext that it is only targeting legitimate military infrastructure.
The Blitz failed because the Germans never achieved the necessary air superiority over Britain, mitigating the damage and allowing the British to inflict heavy losses on the Luftwaffe. Russia’s missile and drone campaign has fallen short for similar reasons. However, the primary goal of the Blitz was also to weaken Britain’s air defenses, thereby enabling an eventual land invasion.
Russia’s goal has been to break the will of the Ukrainian people, but just as Germany’s Blitz hardened the resolve of those in the UK, such air attacks are producing a similar outcome in Ukraine today. Kyiv has been willing to engage in peace talks, which the US has attempted to initiate, but these attacks are likely to hinder those efforts.
The Media Landscape of the Attacks Is Similar—and Different
Edward R. Murrow’s introduction, “This is London,” during his rooftop reports during the Blitz, brought World War II to the living rooms of Americans. Murrow’s reporting marked the first time that a conflict was delivered to a civilian audience around the world in near real time.
85 years later, social media has allowed for similar real-time reports from Kyiv and other cities. Yet whereas Nazi propaganda largely failed to find an audience that believed its lies about the state of the conflict, social media has allowed pro-Russian operatives to present a counter-narrative, one that diminishes the extent of the damage or even justifies Russia’s ongoing campaign.
Where Edward R. Murrow was never strictly impartial, he practiced a form of journalism that aimed to offer moral clarity and defend democratic values against authoritarianism. By contrast, social media has amplified pro-Russia commentators on both the far left and the far right, many of whom have spread lies about Ukraine’s government and suggested that Russia was forced into the conflict by NATO expansion. (Ukraine is not a member of NATO.)
“America First,” in 1940 and Today
There is no denying that the Nazis’ Blitz—which openly targeted civilians with the aim of terrorizing Britain into submission—helped push the United States closer to the British cause. Even before the Pearl Harbor attacks, Washington’s attitudes were pro-Allied, but the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt did not want to be dragged directly into the conflict.
Today, President Donald Trump is facing a similar dilemma. Although sentiment in the United States is broadly sympathetic to Ukraine, he has made clear that he opposes the involvement of the United States in the war—which he campaigned on ending in his first hours.
On Sunday, Trump stated that he was ready to move forward to a second phase of sanctioning Russia, but the Kremlin responded that it would have “no effect.”
“Sanctions are the agenda supported by the Kyiv regime and European countries. They are doing everything to bring Washington into their orbit and impose these sanctions,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russian journalist Alexander Yunashev on Monday morning, during an interview shared via Telegram, Time Magazine reported.
However, this recent attack, rather than any outside agenda, may be what finally moves Washington to act.
About the Author: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu has contributed over 3,200 published pieces to more than four dozen magazines and websites over a 30-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a contributing writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. He is based in Michigan. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].
Image: Wikimedia Commons.
