Waste a lot, want a lot

A desperate Putin is spending hundreds of millions to hit civilian targets in Ukraine while his army fails on the battlefield

Apartment building in Kyiv hit by drone today. Photo by AP.

$400 to $700 million.  That is how much Russia’s missile attack on Ukraine cost on a single day, October 10.  The Ukraine Defense ministry announced that Russia launched 84 missiles largely against civilian targets – apartment buildings, offices, shopping areas – they even hit a children’s playground in Kyiv.  According to Forbes magazine, the Russian attack included its KH-101 air-launched cruise missile, which costs $13 million; the 3M54 Kalibr cruise missile, $6.5 million; the Iskander ground-to-ground missile, $3 million, the P-800 Oniks air-launched missile, $1.25 million; the KH-22 air-launched missile, $1 million; and the OTR-21 Tochka ground transporter-launched missile, $300,000.

Russia also reportedly fired 24 Iranian-made Shahed-136 kamikaze drones, which cost only $20,000 apiece and carry a 100-pound warhead.  According to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russia has ordered 2,400 Shahed-136 drones from Iran.

Ukrainska Pravda previously reported that on the evening of October 2, Russia had launched eight cruise missiles at Ukrainian cities.  Ukraine’s government reported that seven of the Russian missiles were shot down, which probably explains why its attack eight days later involved 84 missiles, some of which were intended to overwhelm Ukraine’s air defenses so more of its missiles could reach their targets.  Ukraine shot down 41 of the cruise missiles fired by Russia on October 10.

Today, Ukraine reported that Kyiv was struck by “successive waves of 28 kamikaze drones.”  The attack struck what the government called “energy facilities” and at least one apartment building, killing four civilians.

While Putin can buy more drones from Iran, replacing his stock of cruise missiles is not going to be so easy.  The KH-101 cruise missile employs a contour-matching guidance system that uses radar to match images stored in an onboard computer.  Later versions of the missile are  equipped with an electro-optical system for correcting the missile’s direction while in flight and a TV guidance system used when the missile is at the end of its flight for its final flight the target.  All this stuff takes computer motherboards and chips that Russia is now banned from importing by American sanctions.  

The fact that at least some of the later versions of the KH-101 have the TV guidance system that enables identification of specific targets means that the missiles fired at apartment buildings and civilian targets in Kyiv and other population centers in Ukraine are hitting exactly what they were aimed at.  Putin wants to knock out city-centers and kill civilians, and the KH-101 is doing just that.

What’s going on with the Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities? Putin is a desperate dictator who is losing his war against Ukraine.