In the history of 20th-century wars, there are chapters that once seemed permanently closed, left behind in textbooks and archival records. One such chapter was the doctrine of “strategic bombing” of civilian populations, aimed at completely breaking a nation’s will to resist. In the autumn of 1940, Europe watched in horror as Nazi Germany, carrying out Operation Blitz, unleashed the full force of its air power on British cities. However, more than eight decades later, in 21st-century Europe, this scenario has repeated itself with alarming precision. The massive missile and drone strikes by the Russian Federation against peaceful cities and critical infrastructure in Ukraine from 2022 to 2026 have become a modern embodiment of the Nazi Blitz.
The main parallel lies not only in the “technologies” of destruction, but in the socio-political dimension: how societies respond to total aerial terror, why the aggressor repeatedly makes the same strategic mistake by expecting rapid capitulation, and what lessons modern Europe must draw to protect its future.
To understand the nature of current events, it is necessary to return to events 86 years ago. In the summer of 1940, Nazi Germany was preparing Operation Sea Lion, a large-scale invasion of the British Isles. The first phase involved gaining air superiority, for which the Luftwaffe targeted exclusively military objectives: Royal Air Force airfields, radar stations, and coastal docks. However, the course of events changed after one episode. In late August 1940, a German bomber, due to poor visibility, accidentally dropped bombs on residential areas of London. In response, British aviation carried out a symbolic but prestige-damaging strike on Berlin. Enraged, Hitler ordered a strategic shift: redirecting air forces from military targets to the total destruction of British cities and their populations.
Saturday, September 7, 1940, became the starting point of the campaign known as the Blitz. On that day, nearly 350 German bombers, escorted by hundreds of fighters, attacked London’s East End. It marked the beginning of an unprecedented nightmare: the British capital endured mass bombings for 57 consecutive nights. Overall, the campaign lasted more than eight months, until May 16, 1941. Expanding beyond London, German aviation systematically devastated major industrial and cultural centers. Coventry was nearly destroyed on November 14, 1940, giving rise to the term “to coventrate,” meaning to level a city through aerial attack. Birmingham, Liverpool, Plymouth, Bristol, Belfast, and Glasgow were also reduced to ruins.
The objectives of the Nazi leadership were clear: paralyze British industry, disrupt logistics, trigger a humanitarian catastrophe, and, most importantly, break civilian morale, forcing the population to pressure Winston Churchill’s government into signing a separate peace.
The scale of the tragedy was immense for its time. Estimates suggest that over eight months of the Blitz, between 40,000 and 43,000 civilians were killed, about half of them in London, while hundreds of thousands were seriously injured. Bombs destroyed or damaged more than one million homes in the capital alone, leaving millions homeless.
However, from a military-strategic perspective, the Blitz ended in a crushing failure for Germany. The Nazis underestimated the socio-psychological factor: instead of panic and demands for surrender, British society demonstrated remarkable unity. The Royal Air Force regrouped and inflicted heavy losses on the enemy, while British industry not only continued functioning but increased production. The slogan “Keep Calm and Carry On” and Churchill’s uncompromising stance, “We shall never surrender,” turned aerial terror into a catalyst for national resilience. By May 1941, Hitler was forced to scale back the bombing campaign and shift focus to preparing the invasion of the Soviet Union.
Eighty-two years after the Blitz, the doctrine of targeting civilians for political coercion has returned to Europe. On October 10, 2022, Russia launched a systematic campaign to destroy Ukraine’s energy and civilian infrastructure. This followed a series of military setbacks, including Ukraine’s liberation of Kharkiv region and Lyman, as well as the explosion on the Crimean Bridge. Like Hitler in 1940, the Kremlin responded to strategic failures by turning to overt terror against civilians.
The ongoing missile and drone war against Ukraine has surpassed the Blitz in duration and technological cynicism. While the Nazis used manned bombers such as Heinkel and Junkers, the Russian military has employed a wide range of high-precision weapons: air-launched cruise missiles (Kh-101, Kh-555), ballistic and hypersonic missiles (Iskander-M, Kinzhal), and thousands of strike drones such as the Iranian-designed Shahed-136/131. Analysts estimate that between 2022 and 2026, Russia launched around 100,000 such weapons at Ukraine, approximately 95,000 of which were Shahed drones. Additionally, Russia has actively used guided glide bombs against frontline settlements. The total volume of aerial attack means now rivals or exceeds that of the German Blitz.
The methodology of Russian terror has been wave-like. The 2022–2023 campaign aimed to plunge Ukraine into a total winter blackout, freeze cities, and provoke a massive refugee wave into the EU. In 2024–2026, tactics evolved: strikes targeted not just substations but power generation facilities themselves—thermal power plants, hydroelectric stations, and underground gas storage. Major facilities such as Trypilska TPP near Kyiv and Zmiivska TPP in Kharkiv region were destroyed, and the Dnipro Hydroelectric Station was attacked.
The human toll is staggering. According to verified data from the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, by early 2026, total civilian casualties (killed and injured) exceeded 60,000. The year 2025 was particularly deadly: intensified attacks and combined strike tactics led to over 2,500 civilian deaths; a 31 percent increase compared to 2024. In spring and summer 2026, casualties rose by another 20 percent compared to the same period the previous year.
Infrastructure destruction, documented by the Kyiv School of Economics and the World Bank, indicates a deliberate attempt to render Ukraine uninhabitable. By mid-2026, more than 2 million homes had been destroyed or severely damaged. Direct losses to the energy and extractive sectors reached 88.2 billion dollars. After heavy strikes in early 2026, Ukraine’s available power generation capacity dropped below 10 GW, while peak winter demand exceeds 18 GW, resulting in severe blackouts of up to 16–20 hours per day in major cities.
Comparative analysis reveals three key socio-political similarities. First, propaganda: Nazi narratives framed bombings as retaliatory necessity, just as Russian authorities label strikes as “revenge attacks,” aiming to legitimize war crimes domestically. Second, miscalculation: both regimes underestimated the resilience of free societies. Terror generated not submission but anger and unity. In Britain, civilians organized fire brigades and continued daily life amid ruins. In Ukraine, society adapted through self-organization, generator-based economies, and volunteer networks supporting both civilians and the military. Third, expectations of political collapse: both Hitler and the Kremlin assumed internal chaos and refugee flows would weaken international support.
There are also key differences. Unlike Britain in WWII, Ukraine has faced restrictions on using Western-supplied weapons against Russian territory, creating a situation where the aggressor operates from relative safety. Additionally, while the Blitz was an intense eight-month “sprint,” Russia’s campaign is a prolonged “marathon,” allowing both adaptation of weapons and development of countermeasures.
The broader implications for Europe are serious. The war has exposed strategic hesitations reminiscent of pre-WWII appeasement policies. Delayed and limited delivery of air defense systems such as Patriot, IRIS-T, NASAMS, and SAMP/T contributed to civilian losses and infrastructure destruction. At the same time, the conflict has revealed vulnerabilities in European defense production and energy security.
The key lesson remains consistent: aerial terror cannot break a nation determined to resist, supported by legitimate leadership and allies. However, the cost is measured in destroyed lives, devastated infrastructure, and lost generations. Russia’s campaign against Ukraine is a challenge to European civilization. Protecting the skies over Kyiv and Kharkiv ultimately means protecting the skies over Paris, Berlin, and London.