Update:
That sortie of Russian subs and a landing ship in the Black Sea a couple of days ago was part of the missile attack that hit Ukraine today. A mix of sub launched Kaliber missiles (from the Black Sea) and bomber launched cruise missiles from inside of Russia.
Russian accuracy was, as usual, feces.
(Please hold questions until thread ends)
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A mix of 23 Kh-101/Kh-555/Kaliber launched by subs, ships, and Tu-95 Bear bombers.
7 Kh-59 missiles from Su-35S fighters
5 Kh-22 missiles from 5 Tu-22M3 bombers
(per Ukrainian sources via Rob Lee)
Let's Renderize those numbers, shall we?
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There are only two Russian ships in the Black Sea that can fire Kaliber missiles.
Both of those are still hiding in the port of Sevastopol, one of them still undergoing damage repair from a Ukrainian drone attack last October.
No video of missile launches from the port has appeared yet which leads me to believe that all were fired from the 3 subs.
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Su-35S can carry two KH-59's each. Which means that at least one Kh-59 either wasn't fired, failed to launch, missed Ukraine entirely, or simply wasn't loaded to begin with.
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Kh-22...Old Cold War naval hands would instantly recognize these as the really elderly AS-4 Kitchen anti-ship missile. Designed to kill US carriers they are extremely large (38 feet long and around 14 tons). Tu-22M3's can carry two each. They are also very inaccurate, CEP is about 1 kilometer in diameter. Single aircraft launches could indicate that the Russians are running out of Kh-22's.
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I may have mentioned this before... When the Russians fire missiles like the Kh-22 they are not firing at targets in a city. The city itself is the target.
None of my sources mentioned any of the subs or the ship that accompanied them returning to Sevastopol and it's known that the ship itself is needed at the other end of Crimea to aid logistics since the Crimea bridge was blown up. I suspect that the subs are moving to the Russian naval base at Novorossiysk.
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We also have an update on the UK sending Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine. The number is 14, which is a full company (or “troop” as the British and US Cavalry like to call them). Still no word on whether these are latest,greatest with full upgrades or older versions pulled out of reserve stockpiles. While I suspect the latter either is something of a problem if the Russians manage to capture one. That armor is still top secret.
Thread ends here.
@Render
Thanks!
So, if they are now using such advanced firepower and targeting the same types of targets as the cheap drones, what does that say about their strategy?
Or, have they merely run out of cheap drones?
Wouldn't they at least attempt to hit some military production targets that far inland?
@jurban They don't have a "strategy" when it comes to the deep penetration strikes.
The strike drones are used tactically, on the battlefield.
The deep penetration strikes are mostly terror weapons. Even if the Russians are trying to hit a point target their accuracy is so bad that it's difficult to tell.