ISW tells why russia launched air attack on Ukrainian cities on January 23

With their massive missile attack on January 23, russian troops tried to break through Ukrainian air defenses.

This was reported by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

"On January 23, russian forces carried out a series of missile strikes against Ukraine, likely aimed at breaching Ukrainian air defenses. This massive strike was the first in recent months that did not involve Shahed-136/131 drones, which russian forces often use to overcoming Ukrainian air defense systems," the report says.

ISW refers to a video recording of a russian missile launching decoys. It was noted there that similar maneuvers occurred in December 2023 with the Kh-101. The false targets that these decoys became are a way to deceive and exhaust Ukrainian air defense. Previously, Shahed-136/131 was used for this.

However, ISW believes that Ukrainian air defense has adapted to such attacks.

"Ukrainian forces seem to have recently adapted to new series of russian strikes, and russian forces are likely to continue experimenting with new strike systems with various means of penetrating Ukrainian air defense and forcing Ukraine to deploy air defense systems in certain locations," the experts noted.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, in a combined missile attack on Ukraine on January 23, the aggressor state, the russian federation, used 44 means of air attack. Air defense forces destroyed 22 russian missiles.

In particular, it hit Kharkiv. It was reported that at least 7 people were killed as a result of russian missile strikes on Kharkiv in the morning of January 23.

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