Ukrainian air defense is faced with a deterioration in effectiveness due to a shortage of ammunition for the Patriot air defense system, which occurs in parallel with an increase in shelling and an increase in the number of ballistic missiles fired by Russia.
URA-Inform reports this, citing The Wall Street Journal.
Ukrainian military experts stated that over the past six months, Ukrainian air defenses have shot down only 46% of Russian missiles, compared to 73% in the previous period. In April, this figure worsened to just 30%.
However, the effectiveness of destroying Russian drones decreased by only 1%, reaching 82% over the past six months.
The source notes that over the past six months, the number of drones and missiles produced by the Russian Federation has increased by approximately 45%. Russia has almost doubled the production of Shahed drones, producing 2,628 units over the past six months.
It is worth adding that the Russian Federation has increased the production of ballistic and hypersonic missiles, such as Kinjal and Zircon, by 114 and 46, respectively, compared to the previous six months.
The Russian side has also adapted air defense systems for use against Ukraine, firing 175 missiles from the S-300 or S-400 this year alone, according to the WSJ.
At the same time, Ukrainian air defense managed to shoot down only 10% of ballistic missiles fired by the Russian Federation over the past six months. Patriot systems are the only way to intercept Russian ballistics, but Ukraine is facing a shortage of ammunition due to delays in US deliveries. Other air defense systems, such as Nasams and Iris/T, do not have the ability to shoot down ballistic missiles.
Recall that Shoigu’s fate is already clear: Peskov spoke about the Kremlin’s decision after the high-profile dismissal.