Russia appeared to have built 240 air-launched Kh-101 cruise missiles, as well as about 120 sea-based Kalibr cruise missiles since February, despite Western sanctions intended to diminish Moscow's arms manufacturing capabilities, according to Vadym Skibitsky, a deputy head of Ukraine's military intelligence.
Kyiv's estimate calculates Moscow's potential monthly production of about 40 new missiles each month.
In an interview with the New York Times last week, published on Dec. 12, Skibitsky also said that Russia likely has enough missiles "for another three to five waves of attacks," with "80-90 rockets in one wave."
Skibitsky's comments come a week after a Dec. 5 report by Conflict Armament Research (CAR), a British independent analyst group that tracks illegal weapons in conflicts, revealed that some of the cruise missiles used by Russia in its strikes on Ukraine were produced no earlier than October.
The Times reported then, quoting one of the CAR researchers, that Russia's ability to continue its production of advanced guided missiles "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."
