UK: Lull in Strikes Likely Means Russia is Saving Missiles for Winter

The British Defense Ministry said Friday that it has been 21 days since Russian Air Force Long Range Aviation launched a strike against Ukraine.

There was a similar lull in strikes earlier this year, from March 9 to April 28. That 51-day break in strikes was “likely” due to a depleted stock of capable munitions after a winter campaign against Ukraine’s national infrastructure, the ministry said.

However, the current break, according to the British ministry, is likely due to Russia “preserving existing stocks” of AS-23 missiles and using the time to increase “useable stocks” before heavy winter strikes against Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily address Thursday that the U.S. has placed sanctions on companies that have violated globally established price caps for Russian oil, calling it important “to continue the pressure and deprive Russia of the ability to finance aggression through any energy resources.”

Zelenskyy also said “a long-awaited step for historical truth” was realized Thursday with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe’s recognition “of the Holodomor of 1932-33 as the genocide of the Ukrainian people.” The Holodomor, which means “death by starvation,” was a manmade famine under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin that is thought to have killed more than 3 million Ukrainians and many in the country call an act of genocide.

A Russian official on Thursday said that debris from a downed Ukrainian drone killed three people in the Belgorod region of Russia.

Vyacheslav Gladkov, the regional governor, said on Telegram that the debris destroyed a house and that three bodies were recovered from the rubble.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it thwarted a Ukrainian drone attack, with air defenses downing a drone over Belgorod.

Belgorod is one of the Russian regions that borders Ukraine.

Ukraine’s military said Thursday that Russia attacked overnight with 33 drones targeting multiple regions, and that Ukrainian air defenses destroyed 28 of the aerial vehicles.

One of the targeted regions was Odesa, in southern Ukraine, where officials reported damage to port infrastructure and residential buildings. At least one person was injured.

Odesa has been a frequent target of Russian aerial attacks.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. 
…