On January 14, 2023, firing dozens of rockets, Russia resumed airstrikes with long range against Ukrainian infrastructure – the first of approximately 15 days. This is stated in the latest intelligence report of the Ministry of Defense of Great Britain.
It said that as with the previous eight waves of strikes since October 11, 2022, this time the Russian attacks were mainly aimed at the Ukrainian electricity grid.
A large AS-4 Kitchen anti-ship missile fired from a Tu-22M3 Backfire bomber likely hit the residential block in the city of Dnipro, causing the death of at least 40 people.
“Russia wrongly implied that a Ukrainian air defense missile was responsible. Kitchen is a notoriously inaccurate missile when used against ground targets, because its radar guidance system is ineffective at differentiating targets in urban areas,” noted British intelligence.
They point out that such weapons are also responsible for other incidents with massive civilian casualties, including for the strike on the shopping center in Kremenchuk on June 27, 2022
The British MoD says that although some missiles such as the Kitchen are initially unsuitable for precision strikes, the war in Ukraine proves that Russia’s inability to strike at long range runs deeper.
It is very likely that she does has difficulty with dynamic target identification and with access to rapid and accurate battle damage assessment.
