During the early morning attack on Kyiv on December 8, Russia used decoy missiles to confuse and deplete Ukraine’s air defenses. However, the aggressor did not achieve his goal.
This was reported by RBC-Ukraine with reference to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
The latest report from the Institute notes that one of the Russian military bloggers on December 9 reported on the use of Kh-55 cruise missiles by Russian troops, which are very similar to the modernized version of the Kh-101 missile. The purpose of replacing the missiles was to deceive and deplete the Ukrainian air defense.
“The use of decoy missiles was the reason why Russian missiles failed to successfully hit any targets in Kyiv and were shot down by air defenses. The blogger complained that it was “virtually impossible” for Russian troops to launch enough Kh-55 decoy missiles to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses , due to the limited number of Tu-95 and Tu-160 bombers,” the report notes.
The Institute for the Study of War also reports that the Russians have previously used the Kh-55 missiles, along with other variants of missiles and drones, as decoys or “decoys” to overload Ukrainian air defenses and create shortages of precision missile supplies.Russians are stepping up aerial reconnaissance
Ukrainian military observer Konstantin Mashovets reported on December 8 that Russian troops are conducting intensified aerial reconnaissance ahead of large-scale, long-range strikes against targets in eastern and southern Ukraine.
The expert noted that the Russians carried out seven reconnaissance flights before the missile attacks on December 8, which is a significant increase compared to one or two flights in previous days. In his opinion, the aggressor’s military is likely trying to counteract Ukraine’s limited air defense system ahead of an expected large-scale winter missile campaign.
Ukrainian officials have repeatedly stressed that Ukrainian forces do not have enough air defense systems to cover all of Ukraine as tightly as Kyiv.Rocket attack on Ukraine on December 8
On the morning of December 8, the Russians used missiles fired from Tu-95MS strategic bombers against Ukraine for the first time since September 21.
From the area of the city of Engels in the Saratov region, planes fired 19 cruise missiles of the X-101 and X-555 types, Ukrainian air defense forces shot down 14 of them.
All missiles flying towards Kyiv were shot down on approach to the capital. At the same time, in the Pavlograd district of the Dnepropetrovsk region there are dead and wounded due to the arrivals.
In the West, it is assumed that the massive Russian shelling on December 8 is the beginning of the Russian winter strike campaign.
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Source : Uanews
