ISW suggests why Russia has launched new air campaign against Ukraine

ISW reported the information.

Analysts noted that since April 19, Russian troops have launched at least 10 series of strikes across Ukraine, especially in the rear areas. They used significantly fewer precision-guided missiles in this latest series of strikes compared to their unsuccessful campaign to target Ukraine's critical infrastructure from fall 2022 to winter 2023.

According to ISW's preliminary estimates, Russians likely expended a significant portion of their precision-guided missiles in the previous air campaign, and the current Russian air campaign "may be using far fewer of these missiles in an effort to conserve the limited remaining stocks."

According to experts at the Institute for the Study of War, instead, Russian forces relied heavily on the launch of large numbers of Iranian-made Shahed drones to suppress Ukraine's air defense system, although the Ukrainian Defense Forces were more effective in shooting down Russian precision-guided systems than during the previous Russian air campaign.

"The new Russian air campaign appears to be focused on Kyiv and alleged Ukrainian military industrial and logistics facilities in deep rear areas," the report says.

• On the night of May 14, the Ukrainian military destroyed 3 Russian cruise missiles and 25 drones.