The war between the US, Israel and Iran has put Ukraine in an extremely vulnerable position, which Russia is currently taking full advantage of. As The iPaper writes, so many anti-aircraft missiles have been consumed in the Middle East conflict that their supplies to Ukraine are already extremely insufficient.
It is noted that the deficit of American Patriot PAC-3 missiles, which are one of the most effective means of combating ballistic targets, has become particularly noticeable. Taking advantage of the moment, Russian troops intensified their attacks on Ukraine, which is why Kiev suffered at least seven large-scale missile strikes in July.
The most powerful attack was on July 19, when Russia fired about 40 missiles of various types at the Ukrainian capital, including ballistic "Iskander-M" and hypersonic "Tsirkon". At least six people died as a result of the shelling.
Military and political analyst Matthew Arnold is convinced that the intensified Russian strikes in July were not accidental: Russia deliberately took advantage of Ukraine's temporary weakness.
As the publication indicates, intensive strikes are not only being carried out on Kiev, but also on Odessa and other cities. According to Arnold, this has a significant impact on the morale of the population. In addition, Ukrainians fear that in the winter Russia will once again focus on destroying energy infrastructure, taking advantage of the shortcomings of Ukrainian missile defense.
As the article points out, Ukraine is already looking for long-term solutions to the problem. The country is to receive two of the latest Franco-Italian SAMP/T NG complexes, but their delivery is not expected until October. In addition, Kiev has received permission to produce its own Patriot missiles, although the launch of such production may take months or even years. In parallel, the Ukrainian company Fire Point is working on creating a domestic ballistic missile interceptor system.
Kir Giles, a junior research fellow in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the British analytical center “Chatham House“, says that Ukraine's vulnerability to ballistic missiles is unlikely to remain long-term. In particular, due to the fact that Russia may run out of its stock of strike missiles, which it currently uses more actively than it produces.
"This is a constantly changing situation, so Russia currently has an advantage due to the shortage of air defense missiles, but, of course, this does not mean that this will be a permanent situation", he notes.