‘Russia’s new missile attacks on Ukrainian territory differ from last year’s in scale and complexity’ – Financial Times reported

The scale and complexity of Russia’s recent air strikes on Ukrainian territory differ from the attacks of the previous winter.

This information reported by the Financial Times.

From December 29 to January 2, Russia launched over 500 drones and missiles, as reported by officials in Kyiv.

“Increasingly, the main targets are Ukrainian defense enterprises, such as ‘Artem,’ rather than the energy network that Russia tried to disrupt last winter. The attacks were carefully planned, using waves of drones and missiles aimed at overwhelming Ukraine’s air defenses,” the article states.

To penetrate Ukraine’s air defense, Russia typically starts with slow-flying drones, followed by low-flying subsonic cruise missiles, and finally, ballistic missiles that descend upon the target at the speed of sound, making it challenging to intercept them.

“The Russians are trying to crack the code of Ukraine’s air defense. If they succeed and Ukraine cannot defend its airspace, it will be a significant problem, as it opens the opportunity for Russia to send in heavy bombers,” said Dara Massicot, Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.

Ukraine’s combination of air defense systems and “land-to-air” missiles, dubbed “FrankenSAM,” is struggling to cope with these attacks.

“The use of hypersonic and subsonic weapons together has made it difficult for Ukraine to prioritize air defense targets,” said Sam Cranny-Evans, a researcher at the Royal United Services Institute.

It is worth noting that earlier, British intelligence reported a shift in Russia’s tactics, moving from massed missile strikes on Ukraine’s energy sector last year to primarily targeting defense industry facilities now.