Terrorists from russia launched another another air strike on Ukraine using the ballistic missiles at night of October 19th. As the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine informed, occupiers launched five ballistic missiles using the Iskander-M mobile short-range ballistic missile system. According to Ukraine's Air Force Command, during the attack, the enemy also launched: One surface-to-air missile of the S-300 SAM system (to use it to strike ground-based targets); one cruise missile; nine Shahed-136 suicide drones as well as one Kh-59 air-to-ground guided missile.
Ukrainian defenders managed to destroy the only one Kh-59 guided missile as well as three drones after all.
Read more: How Many Tons of russian Long-Range Weaponry Were Launched Over Ukraine For The Last Six Months
As a result of this strike a conclusion can be made that russia minimizes the usage of cruise missiles. It is the second cruise missile that occupiers have launched this month. At the same time this attack is distinguished by relatively concentrated use of ballistic missiles.
The russians has used only up to 42 9М723 ballistic missiles from the Iskander-M system, starting from April 1, 2023. This is an approximate figure, as in some cases the exact number of ballistic missiles wasn`t clarified in the reports of the Air Forces of Ukraine.At the same time, part of the missiles could be surface-to-air missiles for the S-300/S-400 SAM systems too.
It was on June 10 when occupiers launched more than five ballistic missiles for the last time – 8 units (the exact type was not clarified) – none of them were destroyed. Before that, on May 29,11 missiles had been launched by enemy being all shot down by defenders of Ukrainian sky.
According to the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces, the statistics of russia’s strikes with ballistic missiles on Ukraine in a period from April 1 to October 19 looks like:
April: 28 launched – 14 destroyed
May: 20 launched – 7 destroyed
June: 3 launched – 0 destroyed
July: 8 launched – 0 destroyed
August: 2 launched – 1 destroyed
September: launches were not noted
19 days of October: 8 launched – 0 destroyed.
That is why, it is possible to get an approximate rate of 9М723 missile`s production: 25 units during May-July, but in a worse situation it can be 30 missiles during August and September.
It means that occupiers could additionally to produce about 100 missiles for the Iskander-M system from April to mid-October. It is also possible to add about fifty units of 9М723 missiles that were left after autumn-winter missile strike campaign. In this way, it appears that russians still have a hundred of ballistic missiles for the Iskander-M mobile short-range ballistic missile system.
Read more: How Many Missiles Were the russians Able to Accumulate to Strike Ukraine This Winter
