Ukraine estimates that Russia’s armed forces only have enough missiles left for a few large-scale attacks, but says Russia continues to build such weapons despite Western sanctions, The New York Times notes.

“According to our calculations, they still have missiles for another 3-5 waves of fire. This is if 80 to 90 missiles can be launched per wave,” General Vadym Sibitskyi, deputy head of the Military Intelligence Service of Ukraine, said in an interview with NYT journalists.

Last Monday, Russia fired about 70 missiles at Ukraine after powerful explosions at two Russian airfields hundreds of kilometers from the border between the two countries.

Sibitsky also said in an interview with the NYT that Russia has started using former Ukrainian weapons against his country.

“First they launch Kh-55 missiles, we react to them. This is a false target,” he said, explaining that after the activation of Ukraine’s air defense system, Russian bombers launch more modern missiles with high-explosive warheads to destroy these targets.

In their attacks, the Russians use missiles supplied by Ukraine

Kyiv investigators have found several Kh-55 missiles, manufactured on Ukrainian soil in the 1970s, among the debris left after some Russian attacks, and it is likely that some of the bombers used to launch them were also transferred by Ukraine to Russia after dissolution of the Soviet Union as part of the Budapest Memorandum.

It was an international agreement under which Ukraine agreed to give up its nuclear arsenal in exchange for security guarantees received from Russia and the West. The X-55 missiles were transferred as part of the deal because they can also carry a nuclear warhead.

“All Tupolev-160 and Tu-95 ballistic missiles and strategic bombers have been handed over. Now these bombers are using Kh-55 missiles against us. It would be better if we handed them over to the USA,” said General Sibitsky.

A report published last week by Conflict Armament Research (CAR), which monitors the illicit use of weapons in conflicts, based on evidence gathered by Ukrainian investigators, shows that Russia continues to produce new missiles despite Western sanctions against its weapons industry. industry

The sanctions did not stop the production of new Russian missiles

CAR experts analyzed the remains of missiles fired over Ukraine and concluded that their identification codes indicate that they were manufactured in July-September and October-November 2022.

The missiles in question, the X-101 model, were created by the Russians mainly using European and American technologies and components.

The CAR believes that Moscow either found a way around the sanctions to buy components intended for the production of cruise missiles, or had a significant stockpile of these components before the war began.

However, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said nearly three weeks ago that sanctions imposed by Washington and other major Western capitals would slow Russia’s ability to produce precision weapons.

Sanctions imposed by Western countries on Russia’s arms industry since the February 24 invasion include a ban on supplying Moscow with components and technology that could be used in the production of weapons.

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