WSJ “Russia appears to have replenished Iranian drone stocks”
The Russian military has resumed airstrikes using Iranian self-destruct drones, causing damage such as power outages in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odessa.
According to the US Daily Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 10th (local time), the Ukrainian army’s southern operations command said that Russia resumed drone strikes on the same day, hitting the port city southern Odessa.
In response, the Ukrainian military also activated its air defense network and shot down 10 Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones.
Four planes were shot down at Kherson and Mykolaiu each, and two were shot down at Odessa, the command said.
However, some drones have struck targets in Odessa and elsewhere, avoiding Ukrainian military air defenses.
Odessa Governor Maxim Marchenko said that “almost all districts and communities in the region were without electricity as energy infrastructure and private residences were attacked overnight by drones.”
The Russian military bought hundreds of self-destructing drones from Iran in August this year and used them to attack Ukrainian forces and major cities, but there have been comments that they may have exhausted all of their input due their recent use.
The WSJ diagnosed that “the reappearance of the drone on the battlefield this week means that Russia has replenished its (Iranian drone) inventory”.
Early on 9, White House National Security Council (NSC) strategic communications coordinator John Kirby said in a briefing that Iran, which has supplied strike drones to Russia, appears to be considering the possibility of also selling ballistic missiles.
The resurgence of the use of Iranian-made drones on the southern front of Ukraine is also a change that has taken place as the Russian military is trying to gain results, albeit gradually, in the eastern Donbas region.
The Russian offensive is particularly concentrated around Bakhmut, Donetsk, and as ammunition is running low, it appears to be trying to push the Ukrainian army off the front, including by relying on infantry, according to the WSJ.
The Russian military has relentlessly shelled electricity infrastructure across Ukraine from the Crimean Bridge, which connects the Crimean peninsula, which was forcibly annexed in 2014, and the Russian mainland was damaged by an explosion in the October this year.
Weaponizing the harsh winter cold, he appears to be breaking the will of Ukrainians to resist and push large numbers of refugees to Europe to wreak havoc.
“There has been a lot of noise surrounding our attack on our neighbors’ energy infrastructure,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a recent public statement, but that “criticism in this regard will not interfere with our combat mission.” intention to continue.
/yunhap news
