Kyiv's air defence crumbles under intensified Russian strikes

As of May 2023, the Ukrainian air defence was shot down as much as 80 per cent of Russian missiles. A year on, this situation has significantly worsened, with Kyiv facing increasing issues with the shelling of cities and villages. Ukraine is increasingly desperately asking Western allies for air defence systems and ammunition, without which it cannot protect its citizens.

In the past month, the Ukrainian air defence managed to shoot down only 30 percent of the missiles launched by Russian forces. This information was reported by "The Wall Street Journal".

At the same time, over the past six months, the Ukrainian air defence forces have shot down an average of 46 percent of missiles. The difference is enormous, considering the air defence effectiveness rate was 73 percent in the previous six months.

The situation looks significantly better in the case of drones. WSJ notes that the air defence efficiency rate has hardly changed, dropping by only 1 percent to an average of 82 percent over the last six months.

Ukraine's problems may be related to the immense intensity of attacks. Russian forces have increased the intensity of missile and drone attacks on Ukraine by 45 percent in the past six months compared to the previous semester.

Against this backdrop, as WSJ notes, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are running out of ammunition for Patriot systems, which were their best defence against such attacks.

Ukraine, with increasing desperation, is asking Western allies for air defence systems and ammunition, but the situation is further worsened by the fact that the Russians have changed tactics. Now, they strike with a more excellent barrage of fire, using ballistic, manoeuvring, and hypersonic missiles all at once.

Ukrainians value the most influential Western air defence systems and ammunition. This mainly concerns long-range systems, such as Patriot and Iris-T, and smaller installations that deal with missiles and drones directed toward Ukrainian cities.