Is Russian army short of missiles?

In their latest daily update on the situation in Ukraine, the American 'Institute for the Study of War' (ISW) has presented data, pointing to the Russian military inability to sufficiently stock up on weaponry and military supplies, such as missiles. Newsweek has taken a closer look at what lies behind those conclusions. Caliber.Az reprints this article.

'Russia likely faces obstacles in replenishing its missile supply, a think tank has said, 18 months into the full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched by President Vladimir Putin.

The Institute for the Study of War, a US-based think tank, said in its latest analysis of the conflict on Wednesday that both Ukrainian and Russian sources report the Russian defense industrial base (DIB) faces 'growing challenges' in replacing basic supplies, in addition to 'known challenges in rebuilding its stocks of precision weapons'.

Ukrainian Main Military Intelligence (GUR) Representative Andriy Yusov also said on Wednesday that Russia can only produce 'dozens' of Kalibr cruise missiles and smaller numbers of Iskander missiles per month, which will not enable Russia to the replenish its pre-2022 stocks, the ISW noted.

The assessment comes four months into Ukraine's counteroffensive to reclaim its territory, with particularly heavy clashes taking place along the front lines in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Despite suggestions Russia's stockpile is running low, Moscow continues to target Ukraine with large-scale missile strikes.

On Wednesday afternoon local time, Russia launched its deadliest strike on a Ukrainian civilian target since January.

A busy market street in Kostyantynivka in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region was struck, killing at least 17 people, including a child.

Last month, Bloomberg reported that a recently manufactured, undetonated Russian missile recovered by Kyiv forces from Ukraine's northern Sumy province in June suggested that Moscow's advanced weapons stock—including precision-guided missiles and rockets—was running low.

Pictures analyzed by StateWatch, a Ukrainian non-governmental organization, and Bloomberg showed that the missile had been manufactured just weeks before it was fired, which is unusual as missiles typically require several months of tests before being dispatched for use on the front lines.

Publicly available figures indicate that Russia has lost a number of cruise missiles since Putin invaded Ukraine more than 18 months ago.

Data published by Ukraine's General Staff on Thursday shows the total number of Russian cruise missiles destroyed since the war began stands at 1,455, with 22 destroyed in the last 24 hours. Independent sources give numbers that are more conservative than Kyiv's, and Russia doesn't publish figures on its military losses.

Russia's Ministry of Defense said in December 2022 that it will never run out of Kalibr cruise missiles".