Russia by fall won’t be able to build up even a third of pre-invasion missile stockpile
Yuriy Ihnat (Photo:Скриншот брифінгу Медіацентр Україна/YouTube)
Russia will not be able to restore by autumn even a third of the missile stockpile it had at the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, partly because of sanctions pressure, Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said on national television on April 23.
Russia will use any means for reinforcement, but missile manufacturing is a quite slow process, which is further complicated by sanctions pressure, Ihnat said.
“Russia launched a large number of missiles in autumn and winter,” he said.
“It won't be able to amass even a third (of missiles it had) in time left until the fall.”
While Russia could also ask other countries for additional weapons, even this wouldn't help to restore its pre-war stocks, Ihnat said.
"They will manage to amass something, but it is unlikely they will have the same potential as before, which they had accumulated over decades," he said.
Since the beginning of spring, Russian troops have been employing new tactics to carry attacks on Ukrainian territory, Ukraine’s Air Force has reported.
Now the Russian military is mainly attacking with short-range S-300 surface-to-air missiles, which they have to launch not far behind the frontline or border.
That's why the southern, eastern and northern regions of Ukraine suffer the most, from these missile attacks, Ukraine’s Air Force says.
While the missiles from the S-300 air defense system are primarily intended to attack targets in the air, they can be configured to attack ground targets. As such, they are effectively used as short-range ballistic missiles.
However, in this mode, the missiles are inaccurate. There have been numerous cases of such missiles hitting Ukrainian residential buildings, causing multiple civilian deaths.
Ukraine says that such attacks are intended to terrorize the civilian population, and are not aimed at legitimate military targets.
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