Russians are "experimenting", they want to "penetrate" Ukrainian air defence – ISW

Russian forces are "experimenting" with different types of missile strikes to adapt their systems and "penetrate" Ukrainian air defences.

Source: ISW

Quote: "Russian forces likely continue to experiment and adapt their missile and drone strike packages against Ukraine in an effort to penetrate Ukrainian air defences."

Details: A Russian military blogger claimed that Russian troops have recently been striking Ukraine using various types of missiles, including hypersonic ballistic Kh-47 Kinzhal missiles.

He stated that the Russian forces have been launching unspecified "air decoys" and "Shahed drones" to disable Ukrainian air defence systems and enable Russian forces to launch successful missile strikes.

ISW has observed Russian forces experimenting with various combinations of drone and missile strikes in an attempt to penetrate Ukrainian air defence systems as Ukrainian forces adapted to Russian strike patterns.

Analysts have previously assessed that Russia may step up efforts to supply ballistic missiles from abroad, as they may be more successful in hitting targets in Ukraine under certain circumstances.

Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Colonel Yurii Ihnat said on 14 January that sanctions are likely to reduce the quality of Russian missiles.

The decline in the quality of Russian missiles could reportedly further complicate Russia's ability to launch a successful series of strikes against Ukraine.

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