Some of the cruise missiles used by Russia in its strikes on Ukraine were produced no earlier than October, the New York Times reported on Dec. 6, citing Conflict Armament Research (CAR), a British independent analyst group that tracks illegal weapons in conflicts.
The fact that Russia has continued to produce advanced guided missiles, such as the Kh-101 air-launched cruise missile, "suggests that it has found ways to acquire semiconductors and other matériel despite the sanctions or that it had significant stockpiles of the components before the war began," one of the researchers said, as quoted by the New York Times.
Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine's Intelligence Directorate, said on Dec. 6 that Russia continues to produce new missiles but the number of new weapons is incompatible with how many they use in the attacks. He added that Moscow still has enough missiles left for several new waves of mass strikes on Ukraine.
"In reality, they (Russia) still have enough missiles for a few large-scale attacks, and then the stocks of weapons will be fully drained," he said. "The production of new missiles is quite limited, and it only includes a few types of high-precision missile weapons."
In its latest mass strike on Dec. 5 alone, Russia used over 70 cruise missiles to attack energy infrastructure across Ukraine. Over 60 of those were shot down by Ukrainian air defense, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. Russia has unleashed six similar attacks on Ukraine since Oct. 10, launching dozens of missiles each time.
Earlier on Nov. 22, Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that Russia had used most of its high-precision missile arsenal and is facing a shortage.
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