Moscow is running out of precision weapons

Russia is running out of precision missiles and its arms factories are failing to meet demand. The sanctions are having, albeit slowly, a clear impact on Russian war industrial production. Now Moscow is forced to transport its missiles from distant parts of the country to the Ukrainian front.

"Their stock is limited and running out and we are seeing them transporting Kalibr missiles from other strategic directions where they could be stored instead“Said a Western official, referring to the cruise missiles launched from the sea. "This suggests that their stock of precision weapons is dwindling. "

The assessment, by the Western expert, comes as the United States and its European allies are stepping up efforts to arm Kiev and prepare for a protracted conflict. Meanwhile, the Biden administration is trying to get Congress to approve sending an additional $ 33 billion in military, economic and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

On the battlefield, writes the FT, the Pentagon argues that Russia is lagging behind its goal of encircling Ukrainian forces in the Donbas: "We believe they would have liked to have been far ahead in terms of total encirclement of Ukrainian troops to the east and have not been able to connect the north with the south. In fact, they are nowhere near connecting the north with the south while the Ukrainians continue to fight back ".

Most of the Russian attacks are concentrated in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine and the coastal city of Mariupol, the senior US Defense Department official said, adding that most of the military operation with next-generation missiles is not was conducted with the required accuracy. "We think that the problem is due to the lack of refueling of precision missiles ”.

The Western official said Russia's difficulties in supplying guided weapons were caused by both the "quality of their industrial base"Both by Western sanctions that are"limiting their ability to meet the demand from the battlefield ".

Russian progress in Donbas has been "slow and uneven" as its forces face stiff Ukrainian resistance and are trying to learn from past mistakes, the US official said. They made limited progress south-east and south-west of Izyum and towards the towns of Slovyansk and Barvinkove.

The US believes Russia is trying to move forces north out of Mariupol, but progress there too has been slow, the US official added. Elsewhere, Russian forces have targeted central and western Ukraine with shelling to try to prevent Ukraine from supplying and strengthening its troops in the south and east, the official said. The recent attacks in Kiev were aimed at targeting military production capacity and the attacks that hit residential areas "could have been a targeting error " the official said.

Moscow is running out of precision weapons