Reference News Network on December 30** According to the Swiss "Neue Zürcher Zeitung" **December 29**, Ukraine suffered the most intense air raid in more than a year on the 29th. Early that morning, residents of several large cities in Ukraine were awakened by the sound of ** and sirens. Russia, with its heaviest airstrikes this year, has reminded people that it can strike almost anywhere in the country.
According to the Ukrainian military, Russia first launched 36 suicide drones to attack, and then launched 122 cruise and ballistic missiles from ground positions and from the air.
According to the report, since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in February 2022, there has never been such a dense missile attack. The last time Russia launched close to this number of missiles was 10 months ago (106).
The commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, Valery Zaluzhny, said that the targets of the attack were important infrastructure, factories and military facilities in Ukraine. It is not yet possible to estimate the full extent of the damage. According to the Ukrainian air defense, the air defense system destroyed 70% of the missiles.
The report notes that Russia's motive for this unusual attack can only be guessed. Some speculate that this is in retaliation for Ukraine's destruction of the Russian landing ship "Novocherkassk" on December 26. A more credible version is that Moscow is deliberately stockpiling scarce cruise and ballistic missiles to crush Ukraine's air defenses with a single massive strike.
According to the report, this is consistent with Russia's practice of initially sending only relatively cheap suicide drones before launching a real strike. The unit price of the CH-101 cruise missile, which is widely used by Russia, is about $13 million. According to Ukrainian data, the Russian attack cost a total of about $1.3 billion.
The report said that the use of four anti-radar guided missiles shows that one of Russia's aims is to weaken the enemy's air defense. This month, Ukraine received a third Patriot air defense system from Germany, its long-awaited assistance. However, the events that took place on the 29th showed that there are still significant holes in the Ukrainian air defense. None of the 19 ballistic missiles were intercepted, including five Dagger hypersonic missiles, according to Ukrainian military data.
It is unclear whether Russia's latest attack means that a new round of operations to destroy Ukraine's energy infrastructure has begun, or whether it is just a separate military operation, the report said. Last winter, Russian air strikes were more frequent. Most of Ukraine has been repeatedly cut off from electricity and heat**. Ukraine has so far not been hit by such missile strikes this winter.
According to the report, Russia's stockpile of ballistic missiles and cruise missiles should be running out, and the current production is difficult to meet the needs of frequent large-scale attacks. However, experts disagree on the actual production capacity of Russia. (Compiled by Jiao Yu).