Russia streamlines production to send missiles and drones directly to front - video interview
Russian cruise missile debris at a football stadium near school in Kyiv, May 24, 2026 (Photo: REUTERS/Alina Smutko)
Russia has successfully established an assembly-line process for the rapid production and deployment of missiles and Shahed drones to the front, Air Force communications chief Yurii Ihnat said in an interview with Radio NV on May 27.
Ihnat noted that the biggest problem is not Chinese, but rather Western components found in Russian missiles, originating from manufacturers with production facilities and legal addresses in NATO countries, the U.S., Japan, and elsewhere.
"Vladyslav Vlasyuk, the presidential representative for sanctions policy, is working on this — targeting these companies that, whether forced or unforced, are still supplying Russia, as their products are somehow getting through," the Air Force spokesperson said.
This concerns components for Shahed drones, cruise missiles, Iskanders, aircraft, and helicopters.
"One missile is like an aircraft in terms of technology. It consists of hundreds of thousands of elements, and Russia is producing them in many variants today," Ihnat explained.
"They have missiles of various types and basing — ground, sea, and air — and Russia uses them constantly in attacks against Ukraine. We have found wreckage of those same cruise missiles. If debris arrives that was manufactured in, say, January, and we find markings from the end of November or December, it indicates that Russia is effectively using its air attack weapons 'straight off the assembly line'."
He stressed that the same is happening with Shahed drones.
"This means they have a conveyor process that allows them to produce them very quickly and send them immediately to the front," he added.
"We, together with the whole world, must remedy this — primarily through our 'sanctions,' and what else? The destruction of their production [facilities] and striking their sites. Both Alabuga and other [locations] have already been visited by our drones and missiles. And likewise, with the help of the Western world, we must reduce the supply of those components I mentioned, and [increase] sanctions pressure on Russia's oil and gas industry specifically in economic terms, so they have less money to produce instruments of murder."
On Jan. 24, Presidential Commissioner for Sanctions Policy Vladyslav Vlasyuk reported that Russia had begun using missiles produced in 2026 for attacks on Ukraine.
On May 15, the Financial Times reported that, according to Ukrainian authorities, cruise missiles used by Russia to attack Ukraine the day prior were manufactured in 2026 using over 100 Western-made components.
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