Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate explains claims that Russia has enough missiles for 2 or 3 massive attacks
Ukraine’s MID says they base their statements that Russia will soon exhaust the stock of high-precision missiles are based on estimation of its reserves and the fact that about 80 missiles are launched during massive strikes
Vadym Skibitskyi, representative of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, shared the information in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.
According to him, when representatives of the Ukrainian authorities and the military say that Russia has enough missiles for 2 or 3 massive attacks, they mean high-precision missiles Kh-101, Kh-555 and Kalibr.
"These statements regard Kh-101, Kh-555 and Kalibr missiles. There are also Iskanders, which are ballistic missiles, but we do not take them into account. Kh-101, Kh-555 and Kalibrs are high-precision missiles that can be used at long range. Because, for example, the effective range of the Kh-22 is 350 km. Accordingly, they launch them, but not very often. When we talk about the possibility of 2 or 3 strikes, we mean that there will be about 80 missiles during the attack, and maybe even more," Skibitskyi said.
He noted that on December 31 Russia launched only 20 cruise missiles, although before it would launch about 70 or even more.
"Speaking about 2 or 3 strikes, we mean a massive attack," emphasized Skibitskyi.
He stressed that now Russia has fewer Kalibrs than Kh-101 and Kh-555 missiles.
"They have about 60 Kalibr sea-launched cruise missiles and do not produce a lot of them; maximum 20 per month. And they need to replenish their stocks. This, by the way, explains why many fragments of missiles manufactured in 2022 are now being found, in particular in the third quarter of the year. This suggests that they go straight from production lines to the troops. In general, according to regulatory documents, the strategic reserve should be 30% of the total stock of missiles. But they have already passed this limit for all types of missiles: for Iskanders, for Kalibrs, for Kh-101, for Kh-555. That is, they already have less than 30% of reserves. This indicates that it is a real problem for them to replenish their stocks," Skibitskyi stressed.
- On January 2, Vadym Skibitskyi stated that Russian troops, due to the lack of high-precision missiles, combine their launches with drones and old-type missiles, thus changing the tactics of shelling.
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