Russia is running out of precision-guided missiles used to attack Ukraine’s infrastructure network, said General Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency.
In an interview with the Ukrainian newspaper Pravda recently, General Budanov said that Russia actively buys Shahed drones from Iran to use in raids because the missile arsenal is “almost exhausted”.
“Russia has about 13% of the Iskander missiles left; 43% of the Kalibr-PL, Kalibr-NK cruise missiles and about 45% of the Kh-101, Kh-55 large-range cruise missiles,” Budanov said.
“According to basic military principles, weapons with less than 30% remaining is very worrying because it will have to be replenished from the emergency stockpile, which affects joint defense strategies. Due to the lack of guided missiles. precisely, Russia is using more and more Iranian-made UAV models, especially the Shahed UAV in large numbers,” General Budanov added.
According to the head of Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency, Russia is constantly ordering suicide drones from Iran. About 330 UAVs of this type were used to attack Ukrainian infrastructure, of which the Ukrainian military shot down 222, General Budanov stated.
Recently, Ukrainian media published many photos showing UAV debris similar to the Iranian-made Shahed 131 model. Russia also produces a domestic UAV model called the Geran-1.
Russia has achieved some success when it comes to attacking Ukrainian infrastructure with suicide drones. But the rate of being shot down is also relatively high,” said General Budanov. “In each round of buying UAVs from Iran, Russia brought back about 300 units.” According to the Ukrainian intelligence general, Russia has ordered 1,700 UAVs from Iran, but most are pending production.
Russia and Iran have so far denied Ukraine and the West’s accusations about the drone sale. Moscow insists that the UAVs used in the military campaign are all domestically produced. Iran claims it maintains a neutral stance in the conflict in Ukraine.
On October 24, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev said that Moscow is increasing the production of all types of weapons. “The number of tanks, high-precision missiles, drones and artillery is increasing many times over,” Medvedev said, according to RT.
Mr. Medvedev rejected Western assessments, saying that Russia is running out of many weapons. Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin established a special Coordination Council to speed up the production and supply of weapons and equipment for military operations in Ukraine.
A recent report by British intelligence said that Russia is running out of ammunition, and its arsenal of long-range guided missiles is also running out.
