UK Defense Ministry: Russia pauses air-launched cruise missile strikes against Ukraine
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Russia’s Long Range Aviation hasn’t conducted air-launched cruise missile attacks against Ukraine for over a month, one of the longest gaps in such strikes since the full-scale invasion began, the U.K. Defense Ministry reported on Oct. 27.
“While Russia is still able to utilize other strike capabilities, the LRA (Long Range Aviation) had been the primary method for conducting stand-off precision strikes,” the ministry wrote in its latest intelligence update.
Russia’s military has decreased the frequency of its strikes “almost certainly" to replenish its stockpile of Kh-101 missiles, also known by their NATO reporting name AS-23a KODIAK, reads the update.
Moscow will likely use any recently produced long-range missiles to target Ukrainian energy infrastructure this winter, supplementing the campaign with Iranian-designed kamikaze drones, the ministry concluded.
Ukrainian officials have warned that Russia will likely escalate its attacks against Ukraine's energy infrastructure in the coming months to cripple the country's power grid.
Moscow attempted such a strategy during the fall and winter of 2022-2023, which led to frequent blackouts and a lack of heating across the country.
