One of Russia’s objectives is to disrupt Ukraine’s weapons production and destroy the country’s economy, while during the winter it plans to target heating and water supply systems, according to Vadym Skibitskyi, Deputy Chief of the Defence Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine.
“One of Russia’s objectives today is to disrupt our defence industry, particularly the production of highly effective weapons. The next objective is the complete destruction of our economy, including the energy system. And during the winter period, it is to strike heating and water supply systems,” Skibitskyi said during the annual Yalta European Strategy (YES) meeting in Kyiv, organised by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation.
According to Skibitskyi, this is one of the Kremlin’s methods of destabilising the situation in Ukraine.
“And, of course, one of Russia’s goals is to achieve the objectives set out in its so-called ‘special military operation’ on our territory,” the Defence Intelligence deputy chief said.
Skibitskyi added that one of Russia’s challenges is creating an additional strike force and assembling sufficient forces for strategic offensive operations. Ukraine is containing Russian forces and slowing the pace of Russia’s offensive operations on the battlefield, Defence Intelligence stressed.
However, Skibitskyi warned that the threat from Russian missiles and drones remains, particularly the risk of large-scale combined attacks.
“Today, we can see many different types of drones in our airspace. The primary challenge is Russia’s new approaches and tactics in the use of jet-powered drones such as the Geran-4 and Geran-5. We are discussing this with our commanders. And, of course, there are ballistic missiles,” Skibitskyi said.
He stressed that the threat involves not only Russian ballistic missiles but also ballistic missiles supplied by North Korea.
