Hints from recent attack
London suspects missile problem in Russia
03/10/2023 12:21 p.m
In order to overwhelm the anti-aircraft defenses, the Russian military must launch attacks with many missiles. According to the British secret service, however, the stocks have probably emptied and the armed forces are waiting until the industry has produced enough. This could explain longer intervals between attacks.
For months there has been speculation as to whether Russia could run out of missiles for attacks on Ukraine. There is no evidence that the military’s vast arsenal of weapons is running out, only indications. After the most recent violent wave of attacks with a total of 81 rockets fired and eleven dead civilians, British secret services see indications that the Russian camps may at least have emptied.
According to the Supreme Commander of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny it was a very different hodgepodge of rocket types that the Russian armed forces fired on Wednesday night. The British secret service announced in its daily update that there was evidence that a selection of different projectiles were used, some of which were misused.
It was also the first major wave of long-range weapon attacks since mid-February. The intervals between the attacks are now longer. According to British intelligence, the reason for this could be that Russia must first accumulate “a critical mass of newly produced missiles from the industry” before an attack with enough missiles can be launched to overwhelm the Ukrainian air defenses.
Russia is increasingly using hypersonic missiles
The fact that Russia is running out of missiles is probably wishful thinking. President Putin only announced at the end of February that he would ramp up production – and particularly mentioned hypersonic missiles such as Zirkon or Kinschal. An exceptional number of the latter were fired in the most recent attacks, and the anti-aircraft defense is said to be powerless against them. In addition, it is not known what the stock levels on the Russian side really look like.
The Kremlin justified the attacks in response to alleged fighting in Russia’s Bryansk border region. “In response to the terrorist acts organized by the Kiev regime on March 2 in the Bryansk region, the Russian armed forces launched a massive revenge attack,” Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said. On March 2, Russian authorities claimed that a Ukrainian sabotage group had entered Russian territory and killed two civilians there. Putin spoke of a “terrorist attack”.