The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) suggests that during a new massive missile strike on January 23, Russia wanted to break through Ukraine's air defense. This is stated in the Institute's report published on Wednesday, January 24.
According to analysts, the new series of strikes is the first time in recent months that Russia did not launch Iranian Shahed kamikaze drones, which Russian troops have often used to try to suppress air defense, during the attack.
The ISW said that on January 23, a "Russian source" published a video showing an alleged Russian missile firing decoys. Similar footage of a Russian X-101 appeared in late December 2023.
The institute suggests that instead of drones, Russia used fake targets to experiment with the effectiveness of their use and to save attack drones for other attacks.
"Ukrainian forces appear to have recently adapted to the new series of Russian strikes, and Russian forces appear to continue to experiment with new strike packages with different means of penetrating Ukrainian air defenses and forcing Ukraine to deploy air defense systems in certain locations," the report says.
