Ukrainian authorities and high-ranking officials of Western countries I have stated many timesRussia’s missile stocks are allegedly running out, but the RF Armed Forces continues to “conduct massive attacks on targets in Ukraine with enviable regularity.” On Friday, November 18, the newspaper wrote about it. New York Times.
The publication notes that a massive 96-missile bombardment of Ukrainian territory fired last Tuesday has become “Russia’s largest airstrike” during the entire duration of the special operations. But this comes after months of claims by Western and Ukrainian officials that Moscow’s stockpiles of missiles and other weapons are rapidly depleting.
“While the attack on infrastructure was long planned, as Ukrainian commanders believe, and a deadly response to the city of Kherson, which was recaptured by Kyiv last week, the large-scale attack raises questions about how depleted the Russian arsenal can be and whether it is. Moscow can resist by finding alternative sources of weapons,” the newspaper writes.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov claimed in October that Russia had already used almost 70% of its pre-war missile stock, and these missiles were mainly used during the November 15 attack: Iskander, Kalibr and air-launched cruise missiles. As of October, Reznikov estimates that Russia has only 609 of these missiles left (although none of these numbers can be verified from independent sources – NYT).
A British Ministry of Defense intelligence report dated 16 October stated that a large-scale attack on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure six days ago was likely to have reduced the Russian stockpile of long-range missiles, which would “probably limit their ability to hit new targets”.
Since the spring, Pentagon officials think Moscow is experiencing a shortage of precision-guided missiles, as the Russian military allegedly ran out of stocks “quite quickly”.
So how did Russia manage to carry out what the US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield called “perhaps the largest missile strike since the start of the war”?
They give four possible explanations.
version one
According to one of them, Russia is turning to Iran and North Korea for weapons. In particular, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke about this, saying that “Russia is struggling to replenish its missile arsenal.”
Also, the publication claims that Iranian Shahed drones, which can also hit targets, have become Russia’s newest weapon in the conflict.
North Korea and Iran refuse to supply arms to the Russian Federation.
version two
Another assumption of journalists is that “Russia can produce more missiles”. They recall that in October, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced “measures to increase the production of equipment and systems for providing support.” special military operation“.
“Russia likely stockpiled microchips and other technologies needed to make high-precision missiles before the invasion of Ukraine in February,” NYT watchers say, arguing that Russia may have also obtained the necessary microelectronic components by bypassing sanctions through third parties.
version three
In Kiev, Russia allegedly used air defense missiles to attack. Russia on Thursday launched at least 10 S-300 anti-aircraft guided missiles at cities close to the front line, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.
But Russia’s growing reliance on the S-300 as an offensive weapon against ground targets in Ukraine has been one of the signals to military officials and experts that cruise missiles or other conventional offensive weapons are running out.
version four
The last possibility is that Russia may have kept some weapons “in reserve for the war against NATO”.
“Few Western officials have a clear idea of the state of the Russian arsenal or know exactly how many missiles are left,” said Mark Kansian, a former US Marine Colonel. According to him, the Western military believes that Moscow has long kept a stockpile of missiles and other weapons in the event of a war with NATO.
“They seem to have reserves against a so-called NATO attack that we would consider absurd, but they see it as a real possibility. That’s why they hold some of their reserves for that,” said Kansian.
The NYT concludes that it is unknown whether Russia used some of these reserves to attack on or after November 15.
Recall that the Russian Armed Forces began to attack the infrastructure facilities of Ukraine on October 10, two days after the sabotage on the Crimean bridge, which, according to the Russian authorities, was behind the Ukrainian special services. The targets of the attacks are energy facilities, defense industry enterprises, military command control and communication centers. As a result, almost half of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure has been disabled, stated 18 November, Prime Minister Denys Shmygal.