British Intelligence: Russia has run down its current UAVs stock

British Intelligence: Russia has run down its current UAVs stock
# 01 March 2023 10:45 (UTC +04:00)

On 27 February 2023, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence confirmed it had shot down 11 Shahed one-way attack uncrewed aerial vehicles (OWA UAVs) out of 14 launched overnight, the British Intelligence wrote on his Twitter page, APA reports.

Serhii Popko, head of Kyiv City Military Administration, reported nine of these were shot down in the vicinity of Kyiv airspace. Three additional Shahed UAVs were reportedly shot down in Chernhiv Oblast, northern Ukraine.

Prior to this 26 February 2023 attack, there have not been any reports of OWA UAVs being used in Ukraine since around 15 February 2023. This decrease in OWA UAV attack tempo likely indicates that Russia has run down its current stock: it will likely seek a resupply.

Due to the vector of the attack, these Shahed-UAVs were highly likely launched from the Bryansk Oblast, Russia. Previously, the only observed launch site since mid-December 2022 was from the Krasnodar region, across the Sea of Azov.

A second launch site would give the Russians a different axis of attack, closer to Kyiv.

This is likely to decrease time in the air over Ukraine and an attempt to further stretch Ukrainian air defences.

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