Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (Photo: Getty).
"Russia is depleting its arsenal of weapons, missiles and military equipment accumulated over decades," Newsweek quoted Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Defense and Security Council of Ukraine, as saying on Twitter on March 11.
Mr. Danilov explained that the Russian economy cannot sustain the production of new weapons, so finding foreign supplies is especially important for Moscow. He said that some allies have provided military equipment to Russia.
The comments came shortly after the Ukrainian military said Russia used 95 missiles in a large-scale raid on March 9. Notably, Moscow used many different types of missiles in this raid, including up to 6 Kinzhal hypersonic missiles.
Western intelligence agencies believe this is a sign that Russia is running out of guided missiles. This could be the reason why the frequency of Russia's large-scale attacks has decreased.
On the same day, a Ukrainian intelligence official said that Russia's stockpile consisted of only 90 Iskander-M tactical ballistic missiles, 45 Iskander-K long-range cruise missiles and 36 Kh-22 supersonic anti-ship missiles. "Western sanctions are significantly limiting Russia's missile production capacity. The number of missiles they used in the raid on the morning of March 9 is equivalent to a month's missile production," the official said.
Margo Grosberg, head of Estonia's intelligence agency, assessed in late January that Russia only had enough missiles left for another 3-4 months.
However, Russian officials insist they have all the resources needed to conduct a "special military operation" in Ukraine. Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said that Russia's arms supplies will increase significantly this year.
"Our armed forces regularly receive a full range of missiles of various types. Supplies of all types of military hardware will increase significantly in 2023," Medvedev said.
On the Ukrainian side, the country's army confirmed that it is seriously lacking in weapons and ammunition, so it asked Western allies and partners to speed up aid to help Kiev counterattack this spring.
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