The key facts

  • Military expert Anatoly Matviychuk said the power of Ukrainian strikes on Russia is critically declining
  • According to him, Ukraine is using Flamingo and Storm Shadow ballistic missiles less and less, switching to drones
  • The Russian Defense Ministry reported two HIMARS rockets and nearly 700 drones shot down in a day

Expert says strike power is declining

The power of Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory is 'critically declining', military expert, retired colonel Anatoly Matviychuk, told Lenta.ru. In his assessment, the composition of the means used has itself changed: strikes are increasingly rarely carried out with Flamingo or Storm Shadow ballistic missiles, and Ukraine is using drones that 'are available in some quantity in warehouses'.

A paradigm shift and Defense Ministry data

Matviychuk emphasized that a paradigm shift is now underway, since Ukraine can no longer mass-use long-range means to strike Russia. 'This does not mean that peace will come tomorrow — some warehouses are still functioning somewhere, after all. But the power of these strikes is critically declining before our eyes,' — his words are cited by Gazeta.Ru.

Context

Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that over the past day, Russian air defense units shot down two HIMARS MLRS rockets of American manufacture and almost 700 fixed-wing drones. According to the ministry, over the entire period of the special military operation, 283,164 drones and 36,889 field artillery pieces and mortars of Ukrainian forces have been destroyed. In addition, Gazeta.Ru wrote that Ukraine earlier sought to achieve de-escalation agreements at the talks in Abu Dhabi.

What is important to keep in mind

The assessment of a 'critical decline' in strike power is a statement by one expert, not a confirmed independent conclusion; the figures on downed targets cited by the Defense Ministry come from a single agency and cannot be verified against other sources within the available publications. The sources contain no data on how exactly the actual intensity and effectiveness of the strikes have changed.