Russia Has Changed Tactics of Missile Attacks on Ukraine

As of today, the Russian Federation may have approximately 585 missiles with a range of more than 500 km. About 75 of them are Kinzhal hypersonic missiles. Vadym Skibitskyi, a representative of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, said this in a comment to RBC-Ukraine.

Russia also has another 150 Kh-22 missiles that it wants to improve. Each month, the enemy can upgrade no more than 10 such missiles.

“If we talk about Iskander ballistic and cruise missiles, then, according to our data, there are currently about 270 of them. Kalibr reserves are approximately 140 missiles. They have fewer Kh-101s, while the total number of Kh-101s, Kh-555s, and Kh-55s with warheads, according to our calculations, is about 100 missiles,” he said.

According to Skibitskyi, having reached the critical limit and intending to accumulate high-precision Kh-101 missiles, the aggressor reduced the frequency of their use.

Intelligence reports that the inability to produce the desired number of missiles forced the occupiers to change tactics. Now, the enemy combines missiles of different classes, chooses targets more carefully, meticulously determines routes to bypass Ukraine’s air defence system, and makes decisions on the task of strikes more quickly.

If the Russians receive information about the need to urgently destroy a certain target in Ukraine, they use more accurate and high-speed missiles, as was the case, for example, during the recent attack in Chernihiv when the enemy used an Iskander-K cruise missile.

“Iskander missile brigades are located along the entire border – in (the) Rostov, Kursk, Belgorod regions, as well as in our occupied territories, in particular in Crimea. Accordingly, our regions and districts that are closer to the front line and the Ukrainian-Russian border are under threat because the time of these missiles’ approach to a target is a matter of minutes. It is extremely difficult to quickly react to their use,” Skibitskyi explained.

He added that the change in missile attack tactics may be related to the enemy’s intention to stockpile weapons ahead of the autumn-winter period to attack Ukraine’s energy system again.

Bohdan Marusyak