Russia agrees on supply of ballistic missiles with Iran - intelligence

This was reported by The Economist outlet, referring to Vadym Skibitskyi, Deputy Head of Ukraine's Ministry of Defense, and Yurii Ihnat, spokesman for the Air Force of Ukraine's Armed Forces, at a briefing.

“We know that relevant agreements have been reached,” Skibitskyi said.

Ihnat added that Russia agreed not only on 2,400 drones from Iran, but also on ballistic missiles.

“Information also appeared that Russia has reached an agreement on ballistic missiles. It doesn't matter how they will be delivered to Russia. We see that there is a regular air connection between Moscow and Tehran, as well as the Caspian Sea,” he said.

He also added that we are talking about missiles with a range of 300 and 700 kilometers.

“It is necessary to somehow react to these ballistic missiles, and they must be destroyed. They must be destroyed where, apparently, they are launched from, because we have no effective means of combating ballistic missiles, other than destroying them physically at the stage of launch,” he said.

Skibitskyi told The Economist that in October, the Russian forces launched 25 Iskander missiles, but Ukraine was able to intercept only three. Ukraine is also defenseless against hypersonic Kinzhal missiles, which Russia has installed on some of its combat aircraft.

Ihnat added at the briefing that Russia has not used Iskander missiles in recent days - probably because it already uses a reserve stock of them.

“According to Skibitskyi's estimates, Russia has only 120 Islanders left. Other sources say that the number of Kinzal missiles is about 40. However, by replenishing its reserves at the expense of Iranians, Russia can double its attacks,” the Economist reports.