Russia resorts to outdated missiles as arms stockpiles run low: Ukraine

The Russian military has been accused of using “obsolete” missiles during its invasion of Ukraine, officials in Kyiv say.

On Sunday, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine made the statement in an operations update shared on Facebook.

The September 4 message said offensives were continuing towards Bakhmut and Avdiivka in the separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

He continued: “During the past 24 hours, the enemy launched more than 10 missiles and more than 24 airstrikes on military and civilian objects on the territory of Ukraine.

“In particular, civilian infrastructure was affected in the settlement areas of Peremoha, Husarivka, Novomykhailivka, Bilohirya.”

But the same spokesman claimed that the Russian military used outdated missiles during the war.

He added: “Due to the lack of high-precision weapons, the enemy began to use outdated S-300 anti-aircraft guided missiles more often.

“More than 500 such missiles were launched on Ukrainian territory, some of which did not hit their target. The occupiers are armed with several thousand such missiles, but most of them are unusable.”

According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), an American think tank, the Soviet-made S-300 has a maximum range of 93.2 miles while the S-300V has a maximum range of 62.1 miles.

While Russia would now depend on the S-300, Ukraine used the US-supplied M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).

The Ukrainian army used HIMAS to strike Russian bases and arms depots, as well as bridges over the Dnipro River, separating the Kherson region, which fell in early summer, from the rest of the areas of Ukraine controlled by Moscow.

HIMARS gives Ukraine the ability to strike at greater ranges with precision and according to CSIS, the Block 1 and Block 1A models have a range of 102.5 and 186.4, respectively.

Russia has said its forces destroyed HIMARS, but none of its claims have been independently confirmed.

Last month, the Russian Defense Ministry said it intercepted 44 Ukrainian HIMARS in the south of the country, but officials did not claim to have hit any of the launchers themselves.

Newsweek contacted the Kremlin and the office of the Ukrainian president for comment.

Ukrainian General Mykola Zhirnov, head of the military administration of the city of Kyiv, recently claimed that 50-70% of Russian missiles are shot down “by planes and by anti-aircraft missile units”.

He added: “But, unfortunately, today we cannot ensure 100% effectiveness of air defense operations, this is due to objective reasons – insufficient number of means of reconnaissance, aviation and anti-missile systems. -air.

“Basically, these are Soviet systems, which do not have the same efficiency and reliability as the air defense equipment of NATO partner countries.