The Russian Federation continues to launch large-scale missile attacks on Ukraine. Since the onset of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, the invasion forces have employed the largest number of cruise and ballistic missiles in the history of mankind. Russian troops have long gone beyond their reserves. However, there should be at least 25% of missiles remaining in stock. On December 5 alone, Russia launched at Ukraine a wide range of missiles worth a total of $400-500 million.
Despite the existing sanctions, Russia has launched thousands of long-range missiles over the past 6 months, including advanced types such as the Kh-101. This allows Moscow to continue terrorizing the Ukrainian population, especially during the winter period. The latest missile attack on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure on December 5 demonstrated that the Kremlin has found ways to procure semiconductors and other materials to circumvent sanctions.
Almost all of the modern Russian military equipment they researched, such as encrypted radios and laser rangefinders, is produced specifically with the use of Western-made semiconductors.
The debris of the missiles shot down in Ukrainian airspace had markings indicating that the weapons were produced between July and September 2022, as well as between October and November 2022.
Today, Putin is throwing all his forces and resources into the genocide of Ukrainians. The Russian leadership is using long-range missiles to strike critical infrastructure across Ukraine to demoralize the population and coerce the country’s leaders to capitulation.
However, Russian missile strikes failed to force Ukraine to accept the Kremlin’s terms of surrender. Despite this, Russia will continue its strikes, further hoping of proving not guilty of committing war crimes. At the same time, the Russian defense industry is working at a frantic pace to manufacture more missiles in order to continue launching devastating strikes.
In this regard, the West should urgently support Ukraine’s efforts to defend from the Russian aggressor. The Ukrainian army needs weapons. The time has come for the West to review the ban on the supply of ATACMS missiles to Ukraine. The West should not hold back its action over the Russian nuclear threats. The sooner Ukraine’s partners provide the required weapons to Kyiv, the sooner the war will end.