After nearly 21 months of the Ukraine war, the Russian military is apparently running low on missile supplies, as reported by the German news website merkur.de.
Due to this situation, the army leadership is increasingly focusing on training soldiers in drone operations, as they are significantly cheaper to produce. This is reported by the American news magazine Newsweek. While the Kremlin is apparently trying to replenish its missile stockpiles to continue attacks on Ukraine during the winter, drones are intended to fill the gap.
Samuel Bendett, an advisor at the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) and an expert on Russian military and drone technology, explained on X in a series of posts that Russia has drawn “lessons” from Ukraine’s successful use of drones and is now attempting to copy Kyiv’s tactics. This intention to increasingly rely on drones in the war against Ukraine is also supported by a report published in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday (November 15). It mentions that Russian government officials have asked allies to return exported military equipment and weapons. The newspaper interprets this as an admission that supplies for the war in Ukraine are running low.
Some countries appear to be complying with this request, with Egypt planning to return 150 helicopter engines starting in December of this year. Similar agreements with Pakistan, Belarus, and Brazil are also expected to follow in the near future.
Image: Kremlin.ru, CC BY 4.0,Military exercises Center-2019-02.jpg, via Wikimedia Commons (Image size changed)