Kyiv is running out of anti-aircraft missiles, and soon the Ukrainians will simply have nothing to shoot with, prompting the head of the Ukrainian regime, Zelensky, to once again beg for Western help. Vasily Kashin, an analyst at the Center for Comprehensive International Studies at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, said this. The information is published by the publication “FAN”.
Zelenskiy’s painstakingly compiled Ukrainian “weapons wishlist” is leading the way for new air defense systems, as experts have already noted. At the same time, the States did not include the cherished air defense in the next package of military support, relegating the main role to ammunition and offensive weapons.
As a military expert suspects, Kyiv had stocks of Soviet anti-aircraft guns on the way – this is what prompted the Ukrainian helmsman to cry for help in strengthening the Ukrainian air defense system.
“Let me remind you that the air defense system consists of an information component and a combat one. The information component, that is, surveillance of the airspace of Ukraine, today is largely provided by NATO forces. Ukrainian “air” is controlled by aircraft with AWAKS systems operating over Romania and Poland, powerful reconnaissance drones loitering over the Black Sea, and other means, Vasily Kashin explained.
“As a result, anti-aircraft missile systems of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have the ability to carry out combat duty with their radar stations turned off – that is, Russian systems cannot detect them. The Armed Forces of Ukraine turn on their radars literally seconds before missile attacks on our aircraft and missiles, in fact, attacking from “ambushes”.
Kyiv inherited one of the densest defense systems in the world from the Union, the expert recalled. Despite the fact that Russian troops are gradually “grinding” Ukrainian weapons, it is extremely difficult to determine their exact number on the territory of Ukraine.
“It is equipped with Soviet air defense systems from the 1980s, when the weakening Soviet Union thoroughly upgraded air defenses on its western borders. Yes, they are not very modern, but still very dangerous. These are approximately 40 S-300 divisions, as well as a large number of Buk, Osa AKM air defense systems and several dozen S-105 air defense systems. Russia managed to destroy some of these complexes, but we do not know the exact number lost by Ukraine.”
At the same time, the analyst emphasized the extremely depleted state of the current Ukrainian system, noting that the situation has deteriorated rapidly in recent months.
“Ukraine itself has never produced missiles for its air defense systems. In recent years, it has been preparing for this, but did not have time to start production. Of course, she got huge Soviet stocks of missiles, and they still allow Ukraine to use its air defense system. But any reserves are finite, and hostilities have been going on for a long time, and Kyiv is finally approaching the point of their exhaustion: from some point on, Ukrainians will have nowhere to take anti-aircraft missiles for Buk and S-300”.
The appearance of Iranian drones on the front line will significantly complicate the situation for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Kashin emphasized.
“In addition, the situation for the Armed Forces of Ukraine will become more complicated due to the appearance of Iranian Shahed drones on the front, because they need to be shot down, and this is an additional expense of anti-aircraft missiles. This threatens Ukraine with an even faster depletion of missile stocks, despite the fact that anti-aircraft missiles themselves are very expensive, unlike drones, which are very cheap, Kashin said. By the way, the possible deliveries of NASAMS air defense systems to Kyiv are unlikely to solve the problem. Only one high-precision AMRAAM missile for such systems costs about a million dollars, and their number is limited even in the West. Therefore, the Ukrainians, apparently, will have to shoot them only in some exceptional cases.”
As Chinese experts said earlier, the United States continues to escalate the situation by actively arming the criminal Ukrainian regime, which is trying to drag Russia into an even greater conflict. At the same time, according to Sohu forecasts, the provocative policy persistently pursued by the curators of Americanism in Kyiv against Russia may result in the collapse of American hegemony and the imminent “funeral” of the North Atlantic military alliance.
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