The Economist: "Century Attack" will continue until Kyiv surrenders.
Russia can easily launch up to 500 "Kamikaze" drones per day at Ukrainian forces if necessary.
Author: Konstantin Orshansky
Image: "Kamikaze-2" drone
The Russian military has launched one of its largest air strikes on Ukrainian targets, firing more than 400 drones. The Eurasian Times noted that the frequent use of drones indicates that Western sanctions against Russia's defense industry have not been effective.
The Russian armed forces have intensified their air strikes. In particular, the attacks on May 24 and 25 were called the largest operations since the start of the special military operation, which completely paralyzed Ukraine's air defense system.
The Eurasian Times emphasized that Ukraine's air defense systems have difficulty intercepting modernized Russian missiles, which fly along quasi-ballistic trajectories and are equipped with radar decoys.
As Russia continues to intensify its drone strikes, air defense systems will become increasingly useless.
In addition, the Russian military has resumed the use of X-22 cruise missiles after a long interruption. The Eurasian Times speculated that increased production may have solved the previous shortage of X-22 missiles.
"Ukraine cannot stop these attacks," noted experts Yashar Atalan and Benjamin Jensen from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). "The number of 'Iskander' ballistic missiles fired at Ukraine has significantly increased. Usually, an average of 1-2 launches per week, but according to current data, the number of daily launches has increased to 10. In addition, more than 60 air-launched cruise missile launches have been recorded, including models such as X-101 and X-555."
Atalan and Jensen wrote that Russia's attacks pursue multiple goals simultaneously. The first is to suppress Kyiv's air defense systems, and the second is to undermine the morale of Ukrainian troops and reduce their support in society.
"By combining low-cost drones with more advanced ballistic and cruise missiles, Russia is finding new ways to suppress its air defense capabilities faster than Ukraine can restore its air defenses. Therefore, each salvo increases political pressure," Atalan and Jensen wrote.
An open-source intelligence report published by The Economist claims that Russia is producing more and more "Kamikaze" drones, which form the foundation of aerial strikes. Current production capacity is about 100 drones per day, which is four to five times the expected daily output by the end of 2024.
In addition, The Economist cited unnamed sources from Ukraine's military intelligence department, emphasizing that Russia's defense industry is preparing to increase daily production to 500 drones. At this level of production, launching over 100 drones per day becomes possible, even though such large-scale attacks were extremely rare just a short time ago.
Vladimir Zelenskyy complained to journalists that Ukraine can produce at most 100 long-range drones per day. Therefore, in this battlefield, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are losing the arms race against the Russian Armed Forces.
The Eurasian Times claimed that because the latest models of "Kamikaze" drones no longer use satellite guidance, they are immune to electronic warfare means. Instead, they have found ways to utilize artificial intelligence and Ukraine's mobile internet networks.
The Washington Post cited a report from "Dragonfly Intelligence" company, which analyzed the terrain distribution of drone attacks on Ukrainian territory. Data shows that the average number of drones launched in a single attack has increased over time: from 60 per day in August-January to 110 per day in the past three months.
Initially, the production of "Kamikaze" drones was intended to temporarily fill the gap in long-range weapons after Russia exhausted cruise missiles. But now, drones have become the main type of weapon.
"Russian drones now fly faster and higher, beyond the range of Ukraine's mobile air defense forces," The Washington Post cited the report as saying.
Russian drones now regularly hover above Ukrainian mobile fire units attempting to shoot them down. To avoid detection, drones first fly at low altitudes, then suddenly climb to 2000 to 2500 meters when approaching cities, out of the range of small-caliber weapons.
Therefore, to counter Russian drones, the Kiev regime can only rely on intercepting drones, F-16 fighters, and attack helicopters. All other previously used methods have become inefficient.
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Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7511996730800456231/
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