Zelenskiy: Russia has 600-630 ballistic missiles, Ukraine plans operations to hinder missile strikes – Center for Investigative Journalism

Russia can produce up to 1300 ballistic missiles per year, currently it has 600-630 such missiles at its disposal.

This was reported by President Volodymyr Zelensky during a press briefing, according to Ukrinform.

“I believe Russia may have up to 1300 ballistic missiles per year. Now they have 600-630. Roughly, we understand the volume they are counting on from today until the end of winter. Roughly, they may have 100 ballistic missiles per month. But they do not have that yet,” he said.

According to the President, Ukrainian Defense Forces are working to weaken Russia’s military industry. In particular, there are tasks related to strikes against military targets and other measures to counter the production of ballistic missiles.

“I cited the scariest figure — we estimate that it is 1300 missiles. They would like to have 100 ballistic missiles per month. Because we have started knocking other missiles down quite well. Our combat aircraft and IRIS-T have been added — there are corresponding systems; missiles for them are coming against Russian cruise missiles, Hawk air defense systems — we shoot down many cruise missiles. But ballistic missiles are ballistic missiles. Now we are working to eliminate these 1300 — to reduce this number,” he added.

Zelenskiy also said that Ukrainian forces are planning operations aimed at thwarting Russia’s plans to carry out missile strikes.

“There is another direction we are working on. I think you have seen recently that at some point they planned to shell but did not do so. This is not a coincidence. We are working to prevent them from carrying out massive missile attacks. These are separate complex operations, and we are already starting to see the first results, which, of course, are not yet enough, but it is a path, and we are taking our steps,” he noted.

Ukraine and its European partners agreed to jointly develop a system to counter ballistic missiles “Freya,” which should combine Ukrainian missile technologies with European radars, sensors, and command-and-control systems.

Companies Eurosam, which produces the SAMP/T system, as well as Leonardo, Thales, and Saab have joined the project.

Led industrial partner of the project became the Ukrainian company Fire Point, which developed the cruise missile Flamingo. Last month it announced an agreement with German defense company HENSOLDT to supply a radar for the system.