Strikes by Ukrainian UAVs in depths of russian territory put pressure on russian air defense – ISW

Strikes by Ukrainian drones in the depths of russia continue to put pressure on russian air defense and force the military command to prioritize the allocation of limited means of air defense to cover, in its opinion, important objects.

This follows from a statement by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

Satellite images obtained on May 6 indicated that russian forces had concentrated at least seven Pantsir-1 medium-range anti-aircraft missile systems around the residence of russian President Vladimir Putin in Valdai, Leningrad Oblast.

Analysts report that the head of the Moscow Center for the Analysis of Strategies and Technologies and a member of the civilian advisory council under the Ministry of Defense (MoD) of russia, Ruslan Pukhov, said on July 16 that such "central" air defense coverage (static coverage of a single target) does not make sense in terms of scale, as it allows for Ukrainian drones to bypass russian air defense cover and strike from uncovered directions.

The report noted that the russian military apparently lacks conventional air defense systems to protect all critical sites in western russia and is even attempting to cover important potential targets in areas that are reportedly well-protected in russia.

Pukhov called on the russian military to implement an innovative decentralized approach to protecting facilities in russia from Ukrainian drones and warned that Ukrainian drones are likely to penetrate deep into russia.

Russian military has begun to form mobile fire groups, which Ukraine successfully deployed to defend against russian Shahed-136/131 drone strikes in March 2024, but has not yet deployed these groups on the necessary scale to adequately protect critical facilities in the west of russia.

"Constant pressure on the russian air defense system has led to the fact that some regional authorities have directly stated that russian companies and local authorities cannot rely on russian air defense at the federal level and must provide their own anti-drone capabilities," the report says.

Analysts also added that Pukhov suggested that the russian military deploy a fleet of light aircraft to intercept Ukrainian drones but noted that russia's low production of light aircraft would complicate such efforts.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, the head of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said that in the realities of modern warfare, the number of hits by drones reaches the same level as artillery, which makes drones one of the priorities for the army.

In June, it was reported that attack drones with a range of more than 1,000 kilometers were developed and put into mass production in Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that, in addition to drones, Ukraine is engaged in other long-range systems of its own production.