Russia has launched about a dozen hypersonic missiles during its war on Ukraine and is running out of precision guided munitions in general, a Pentagon senior defense official said Tuesday. Efforts to replace them are hindered by sanctions and export controls imposed since the February invasion, the official said.
As a result, Russia has relied more on dumb bombs in its airstrikes. Russia has been launching between 200 and 300 sorties a day in recent weeks, but many of those aircraft only stay in Ukrainian
airspace briefly to drop munitions, then get back into Russian airspace, the official said.
Monday saw an uptick to about 350 sorties, focused on Mariupol, the Donbas, and some strikes on Odesa, the official said. On Monday night, Ukrainian officials told CNN that Odesa had been struck by
three hypersonic missiles.
The senior defense official said the Pentagon could not confirm the Odesa strikes but said that Russia has launched “between 10 and 12” hypersonic missiles since the invasion began in February.
Early on in the war, Russia
struggled to fire its precision guided munitions on their bombers and fighter jets, with the bombs refusing to release or misfiring. The Pentagon said it had seen indications of Russian aircraft returning to base with the munitions still on their wings.
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