Diminished Air Defence Stockpiles To Further Tip Strategic Balance Against Ukraine - Officials Warn

Military Watch:

Diminished Air Defence Stockpiles To Further Tip Strategic Balance Against Ukraine - Officials Warn

March-18th-2024

Destroyed Missile Batteries From Ukrainian S-300 System


Ukrainian government representatives have warned that serious depletion of munitions for the country’s air defence systems are set to seriously impact the country’s ability to defend key targets over the coming months, according to an exclusive report by the Washington Post. 

The lack of air defence missiles will “have a significant effect on life in Ukraine’s urban centres,” a source informed the Post, with U.S. officials speaking to the paper warning of a “catastrophic breakdown of Ukrainian lines in the grimmest contingency and the likelihood of massive casualties in the best” due to worsening broader shortages of military equipment. 

This follows reports by Ukrainian personnel of increasingly serious and growing munitions shortages, which have significantly restricted frontline units’ fighting capacities. 

Regarding air defence systems specifically, reports from the frontlines have consistently indicated that Russian air power has been able to play a growing role in supporting advances on the ground, not only using air launched cruise missiles, but also precision guided bombs which, although able to deliver much more firepower relative to their weight, forced aircraft dropping them to fly considerably closer to enemy positions. The growing use of bombs on the frontlines indicates a diminishing threat to Russian air power from Ukrainian air defences.

Ukrainian Patriot System Milliseconds Before March 8 Iskander Strike


As early as April 2023 leaked Pentagon documents revealed rising concerns regarding the state of the Ukrainian Air Force’s surface to air missile network, which was at risk of becoming “completely reduced.”

Most recently on March 8 Ukrainian forces lost MIM-104 Patriot and S-300 surface to air missile systems near the town of Pokrovsk, 67 kilometres northwest of the Donetsk regional capital, in a precision strike by Iskander-M ballistic missile systems. This reportedly left Ukrainian frontline positions in the disputed Donbas regions significantly more vulnerable, with the Patriot being extremely difficult to replace and the S-300 effectively impossible. 

Regarding the latest Washington Post report, it was projected that beyond the frontlines air defence shortages could have devastating impacts on Ukraine’s ability to sustain its population centres as future missile and drone strikes could target critical infrastructure. 

Ukrainian officials thus highlighted that depletion of air defences could shift the strategic balance against the country.