Russia's bomber fleet hasn't fired cruise missiles at Ukraine for a month, a sign its stocks are dwindling, UK intel says
- Russia's heavy bomber aircraft haven't fired cruise missiles at Ukraine in more than a month, UK intel said.
- The UK MOD said that's "one of the longest gaps in such strikes since the conflict began."
Russia's fleet of heavy bomber aircraft have not fired cruise missiles at Ukraine in more than a month, according to UK intelligence.
The reason, UK Ministry of Defence said, was Russia having too few missiles, leading them to save them for later.
The UK MOD said in its intelligence update on Friday that the Russia's Long Range Aviation fleet "has not conducted air-launched cruise missile strikes into Ukraine for over a month, one of the longest gaps in such strikes since the conflict began."
Russia has used the cruise missiles to strike at Ukrainian cities and Ukraine's food production, often hitting residential buildings that are far from the front-line fighting and killing civilians.
Using those bombers to launch cruise missiles had been Russia's "primary method" for precision strikes, even though it does have other ways of hitting Ukraine, the UK MOD said.
But Russia, it asserted, needed to scale back to build up its stocks again.
"Russia almost certainly needed to reduce the frequency of its strikes to replenish its diminishing stockpile of AS-23a KODIAK cruise missiles."
Cruise missiles can also be fired from the ground or the sea as well as from planes, but Russia favors strikes launched from aircraft.
Russia makes its own missiles so can replenish its stocks over time. It is likely building a stockpile to hit Ukraine's energy infrastructure over the winter months, the MOD said.
That was also Russia's strategy last winter, when it targeted Ukraine's power and water infrastructure with missiles, leading Ukraine to set up heating points for civilians.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that Ukraine is preparing for Russia to do the same thing again, both through building defenses and preparing to counterattack.
With a new winter campaign, Russia will highly likely keep using Iranian-designed Kamikaze drones to supplement its attacks, the MOD added.