Recent Ukrainian strikes against Russian rear munitions depots show up the extent to which Russian military logistics still benefit from the Western-provided sanctuary that guards Russia's rear. This is stated by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), writes News.bg.
Maxar has collected satellite images that show dramatic damage to three major Russian ammunition depots in western and southwestern Russia following the Ukrainian strikes in September 2024. The images of the damage at the "Oktyabarsky" and "Toropets" in the Tver region and in the warehouse "Tikhoretsk" in the Krasnodar region show the destruction of dozens of ammunition storage buildings, railroad cars that Russian forces likely used to transport ammunition to the depots, and piles of likely missile containers and other materials that Russian forces accidentally left in the open.
Such a crowded arrangement of the bulk stockpiles underscores the absence of operational security at Russia's rear supply depots, showing the extent to which Western restrictions prohibiting Ukraine from firing Western-supplied weapons have given the Russian command the flexibility to does not properly protect its occipital regions. This flexibility has given Russia the ability to optimize large rear storage bases to mobilize massive material supply to Ukraine on a large scale.
The Russian military's continued use of known large-scale logistics facilities is a significant vulnerability that Ukraine could exploit if Western countries lift sanctions against Ukraine. On September 24, a Russian military blogger wrote a short essay complaining about the lack of stealth at Russian military facilities, including warehouses and airfields.
The military blogger complained how open sources such as Google Maps and Yandex show all Russian facilities and that private space companies provide regularly updated high-resolution images of Russian military sites. The blogger also complained that Russia has not yet created a system to segregate its ammunition supplies to ensure that when Ukrainian forces cut off Russian ammunition supplies, they would only destroy small caches of ammunition, as opposed to strikes. which cause catastrophic and widespread damage.
ISW continues to assess that Western countries can reduce Russia's ability to use mass materiel on a large scale by removing restrictions on the use of precision-guided missiles from Ukraine in Russia and by forcing the Russian command to divide its munitions stockpiles into -small and less efficient facilities, some of which will be even further from Ukraine.
Russian forces have reached the outskirts of Ugledar amid what appears to be an intensified offensive near the village, but the capture of Vuhledar is unlikely to give Russian forces any particular operational advantage for further offensive operations in western Donetsk area.
Russia continues to expand and use its bilateral relationship with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to support its military efforts in Ukraine. Russia continues to expand and use its bilateral relationship with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to support its military efforts in Ukraine. On September 23, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia was using Chinese satellites to image Ukraine's nuclear power plants, possibly in preparation for striking them. In April 2024, the US government already warned that the PRC was providing Russia with geospatial information.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Vladyslav Vlasyuk said on September 23 that China supplies approximately 60% of all foreign components found in the weapons Russia is using against Ukraine. In recent days, Russian pro-military bloggers have also shared photos showing Russian forces using Chinese Shaanxi Baoji Tiger armored vehicles equipped with anti-drone technology in Ukraine.
Another Russian source noted that the Russian forces acquired these vehicles through a third party and not directly from the PRC, but anyway the use of military equipment made in the PRC on the front in Ukraine and regardless of how they were acquired , confirms that Russia continues to make efforts to circumvent sanctions to obtain foreign materials to support its military efforts. These various announcements come amid joint, week-long Russian-Chinese naval exercises that began on September 21 in the Sea of Okhotsk.
ISW assesses that Russia is seeking to strengthen diplomatic, trade and security ties with non-Western countries, particularly China, Iran and North Korea, in an effort to further its military objectives in Ukraine by acquiring weapons and critical dual-use goods, machine components and materials, by developing mechanisms aimed at circumventing Western sanctions.
The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) has failed to appease Russia's ultra-nationalist military blogging community by downplaying the Russian military command's insistence on the improper use of technical specialists in infantry-led frontline attacks in eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian forces have recently advanced west of Kursk Oblast. Ukrainian forces have recently advanced in the Volchansk region and in the eastern part of Toretsk. The Russian opposition publication Meduza, citing its own conversations with various unspecified Russian officials close to the Russian president's administration, an interlocutor in the federal government and regional officials, reported on September 24 that mobilization is a very sensitive topic among Kremlin officials.