'We'll live to see': Shelling of Ukraine with missiles from Tu-95 may repeat
Yurii Ihnat, spokesperson for the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (photo: armyinform.com.ua)
Russia may repeat the strikes with cruise missiles from Tu-95MS strategic bombers. The aggressors have been on pause for more than two months and have probably been stockpiling missiles, reports Yurii Ihnat, spokesperson for the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
According to him, the Russians spent more than a thousand cruise missiles last fall and winter. These include airborne X-101, X-555, and sea-based Kalibr missiles. Ihnat added that at that time Ukraine managed to destroy them with available Western and Soviet weapons.
"These are two NASAMS batteries, one IRIS-T and the rest are all Soviet systems. Plus man-portable air defense systems and mobile fire groups were gaining momentum," the speaker said.
Ihnat added that after a series of massive strikes in the winter, the occupiers took a break to restore their stocks of cruise missiles. After that, the strikes were repeated in the summer, and since the end of September, the Russians have again paused.
The Air Force spokesperson admitted that the occupiers may repeat the shelling of Ukraine with X-101/X-555 cruise missiles.
"Who knows if this means they will continue to use them. We will live and see. We have already mentioned that they do not have as many missiles as they had last year," Ihnat said.
Missile attack on Ukraine on December 8
On the morning of December 8, for the first time since September 21, 2023, Russia used Tu-95MS strategic bombers against Ukraine. The planes fired 19 cruise missiles of the X-101 and X-555 types at Ukraine, 14 of which were shot down.
The missiles were flying toward Kyiv, but did not reach their target, they were shot down on approach. Some of the missiles were also shot down in the Dnipropetrovsk region, but there was a hit and a casualty.
Read more about yesterday's attacks in RBC-Ukraine's article.
