Today at 19:00
UK intelligence dedicated its review to the massive missile attack on Ukraine conducted by Russia during the night of December 12-13.
The corresponding review was published on X (Twitter) by the UK Ministry of Defense.
During this attack, Russia used strategic and tactical aviation as well as ballistic missile systems. Additionally, according to the report, ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet launched Kalibr missiles, while numerous launch platforms were used for deploying strike drones.
In total, approximately 90 missiles and 180 strike drones were employed in this attack.
The targets of the strike included Ukraine’s critical infrastructure. Russia also attempted to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses by saturating the attack with strike drones.
“It is highly likely that Russia has opted to spend time stockpiling resources between strikes and then conducting attacks in large, infrequent waves, rather than smaller, more frequent ones as seen earlier in the year,” the report stated.
However, the report acknowledged that Russia retains the capability and reserves to use missiles and drones in smaller numbers as “punitive measures without prior warning.”
In October, British intelligence noted that Russia launched around 2,000 strike drones on Ukrainian regions during the month—approximately 700 more than in September.
Additionally, on November 28, UK intelligence reported that Russia reached a new daily record for losses, with 2,030 personnel lost in one day. This was the first time Russia’s daily losses exceeded 2,000.
