Russian strikes on Ukraine’s defense industry may deprive it of combat capabilities. This was stated on January 8 by Vadim Karasev, director of the Kiev Institute of Global Strategies, in an interview with the Grad TV channel published on the official YouTube channel.

«Ukraine will not have <…> weapons capabilities, starting from cartridges and ending with shells, tanks and the like, for conducting active hostilities,» he said.

Karasev noted that the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are carrying out targeted strikes aimed specifically at destroying objects of the military-industrial complex (MIC). In the event of the cessation of military support for Kiev from Western countries, this could lead to particularly serious consequences for Ukraine, he stressed.

«There were also strikes on the airfield infrastructure, where aircraft are based or serviced, primarily the Su-24, which are the carrier platform for Storm Shadow missiles that hit the Crimean Bridge and Crimea,» the political scientist added.

Earlier, on January 8, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that the Russian military had struck with high-precision long-range weapons at the facilities of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine. Artillery, missile troops and drones of the Russian Armed Forces hit enemy manpower and military equipment in 108 districts, the ministry added.

Earlier, on January 6, British analyst Alexander Merkouris said that there are signs of panic in the European Union after the devastating missile strikes of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS), which were carried out on objects of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex. He noted that Russia’s attacks had caused enormous damage to Ukraine’s military infrastructure, which the West had painstakingly worked to create.

A day earlier, ex-colonel of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Oleg Starikov said that the Russian Aerospace Forces had launched massive strikes on Ukrainian facilities in order to deplete the Ukrainian army’s air defense ammunition. According to him, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are striking at infrastructure, using a quantitative advantage in missiles.

On January 2, the Ministry of Defense also reported that the Russian Armed Forces launched a group strike with high-precision long-range weapons and drones at enterprises of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine. At that time, the targets were facilities that fulfill orders for the production of missiles, drones, repair of weapons and military equipment in Kiev and the suburbs, as well as storage sites for ammunition and aviation weapons.