Russia has deliberately stockpiled missiles of different sizes to create a more diverse strike force.

The large-scale Russian attack on Ukraine on December 29 is the culmination of months of occupier experimentation with various combinations of unmanned aerial vehicles and missiles, as well as efforts to test Ukrainian air defenses.

As analysts at the Institute for the Study of War explain in their report, over the past few months the Russians have launched a series of strikes of varying strengths against Ukraine. To do this, they used various combinations of UAVs, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. In this case, the enemy used either Shahed UAVs exclusively, or drones in combination with a smaller number of missiles.

It is noted that for the massive attack on December 29, the Russians used 36 Shahed UAVs and more than a hundred missiles of various types. According to analysts, the occupiers use drones to bypass air defenses, and missiles to inflict maximum damage on their intended targets.

“Russia likely deliberately stockpiled missiles of different sizes in the fall and early winter of 2023 to create a more diverse strike force and apply lessons learned from various recent reconnaissance and research missions,” ISW said.

Russian missile attack on December 29

As reported, the day before Russia carried out a massive attack, launching 158 air attack weapons into Ukraine, including UAVs and missiles.

Air defense forces shot down 114 targets – 87 Kh-101, Kh-555, Kh-55 cruise missiles, as well as 27 Shahed-136/131 attack drones.

Hits were recorded in Kyiv, Lvov, Kharkov, Dnieper, Odessa, Zaporozhye and other cities.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, at least 30 people were killed and more than 160 were injured as a result of the attack.