Russia intensifies strikes on Ukraine ahead of State Duma elections – Budanov

Russia is using massive attacks with strike drones on Ukraine, including civilian facilities, to create a "victory picture" for its domestic audience ahead of the State Duma elections. This assessment was expressed by the head of the President's Office, Kyrylo Budanov.

According to him, the Russian authorities cannot show voters tangible results on the battlefield, so they are trying to compensate with large-scale air attacks.

"Elections are approaching in Russia. They need to show voters some impressive picture of victory, because they do not feel victory on the battlefield. Just as the whole world does not feel it. That is why terror. They do not know any other way," - Budanov said.

At the same time, the head of the President's Office did not name a specific period during which Russia can maintain the current intensity of attacks. Answering a question about the possible end of massive Shahed drone raids, he noted that the Defense Forces are constantly modernizing the air defense system and developing new countermeasures.

At the same time, Russia sharply increases its attack capabilities

Budanov's statements come against the backdrop of a significant increase in Russian production capacity in the field of strike drones. Earlier, the freelance adviser to the President of Ukraine on the development of technological directions of defense, Serhiy Beskrestnov, known as "Flash," estimated Russia's ability to produce jet drones at about 3,000 units per month.

According to his assessment, Russia may have already reached the planned production capacity and will try to maintain approximately the same pace. In parallel, Moscow is preparing serial production of other high-speed strike weapons, which should complicate the work of Ukrainian air defense.

The Ukrainian Air Force has also earlier recorded a sharp increase in the use of jet drones. Thus, the growth of their share during attacks occurs simultaneously with the expansion of Russian production capabilities.

Logistics infrastructure has come under attack

A separate trend in recent weeks has been systematic Russian strikes on warehouses, distribution centers, enterprises and other logistics infrastructure. Targets have included food retail facilities and postal operators.

In some of these attacks, Russia uses high-speed jet drones and ballistic missiles, which creates additional difficulties for air defense.

The scale of damage is already forcing businesses to rebuild logistics. In particular, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food previously estimated the loss of logistics infrastructure of food retail at about 90%. Due to the attacks, retail chains are switching to a more decentralized model - storing products in smaller batches and increasing the share of direct deliveries from producers to points of sale.

Source: Novyny.LIVE