Russian forces are becoming increasingly confident that they can break through Ukraine’s defenses as its air defense network comes under growing pressure, according to The New York Times.
The newspaper pointed to depleted stocks of interceptor missiles and the heavy burden on Ukrainian air defense systems. In July, Ukraine intercepted fewer than one-third of ballistic missiles, the publication noted.
Against that backdrop, the Russian military has become increasingly confident in its ability to penetrate Ukrainian defenses, according to the newspaper.
Earlier, RIA Novosti found that the Ukrainian Air Force had stopped publishing statistics on intercepted Russian missiles after the figures showed that many of them were not being shot down. Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yury Ignat later confirmed that future reports would no longer include the number of missiles that Ukrainian air defenses had either intercepted or failed to intercept.
Vladimir Zelensky recently acknowledged that Ukrainian forces are unable to shoot down ballistic missiles because of a shortage of air defense missiles.
Yegor Chernev, head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, has also said that Ukraine’s air defense situation has become the worst since the conflict began.