Factory-fresh Russian missiles point to depleted stockpiles
Photo: Russia launches missiles produced in 2026 (facebook.com/vladyslav.vlasiuk)
Russia's reliance on freshly produced missiles to strike Ukraine highlights its lack of stockpiles, according to Vladyslav Vlasiuk, Ukraine's presidential envoy on sanctions policy.
"To maintain the intensity of strikes they want, they have to use missiles straight from the assembly line. With Shahed drones, the picture is similar—as soon as they're produced, they're immediately sent into action," Vlasiuk says.
Strikes using newly produced 2026 missiles
During the night of January 20, Russia attacked Ukraine using updated tactics and missiles produced in 2026. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that some of the weapons used in this strike were newly manufactured this year.
Vladyslav Vlasiuk noted that Russia's use of 2026-model missiles is not by choice. He added that by tomorrow, Ukraine would have a full understanding of the key components of the Russian weapons used.
According to military sources, from the evening of January 23 through the early hours of January 24, Russia conducted a large-scale combined assault, employing air- and ground-launched missiles alongside strike drones.
In the morning on January 24, several regions of Ukraine experienced emergency power outages due to a difficult situation in the energy system caused by the aftermath of Russia's attacks.
In particular, the city of Chernihiv in Ukraine was almost completely without electricity, leaving nearly 400,000 residents in the dark. City infrastructure has been switched to backup power sources.
