Russia has likely run down its supply of drones being used to attack Ukraine, UK defence chiefs have said .
The Ministry of Defence in London said prior to Vladimir Putin’s forces launching 14 drones in attempted strikes on Kyiv and Cherniv Oblast in northern Ukraine on Monday, there were no reports of the weapons being used since February 15.
It said this “decrease” in the use of “uncrewed aerial vehicles...likely indicates that Russia has run down its current stock: it will likely seek a resupply”.
It also said in its latest briefing on Twitter on Wednesday the “vector” of the attack - when 11 drones were said to have shot down by Ukrainian forces - likely suggested a new drone launch site in Bryansk Oblast in Russia.
The MOD suggested the 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”.
It came as Russia today intensified its assault on the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.
“The enemy continues to advance in the direction of Bakhmut. He does not stop storming the city of Bakhmut,” the Ukrainian military said in a morning briefing.
President Volodymyr Zelensky in his nightly address on Tuesday evening said the battle for Bakhmut was “most difficult” but its defence was essential.
“Russia in general takes no account of people and sends them in constant waves against our positions, the intensity of the fighting is only increasing,” he said.
Russian troops have been seeking to advance in a spring offensive at multiple locations along the frontline in the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces, which make up the eastern industrial Donbas region.
But a senior Pentagon official told a congressional hearing in Washington that the front lines of the war were a “grinding slog” and there was nothing to suggest “the Russians can sweep across Ukraine and make significant territorial gains anytime in the next year or so.”
Colin Kahl, under secretary of defence for policy, told members of the House of Representatives, said: “You may see small portions of territory change hands in the coming weeks and months. I do not think that there’s anything I see that suggests the Russians can sweep across Ukraine and make significant territorial gains anytime in the next year or so.”
