Russia is conducting meticulous intelligence gathering in two areas of Ukraine’s defence industry: ballistic weapons and drones. It is trying to prevent Ukrainian ballistic weapons from entering mass production and being fielded, Vadym Skibitskyy, deputy head of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, told RBC-Ukraine.
Drones pose a threat to Russia’s oil refining and logistics, which in turn affects the banking system, business, and, overall, Russians’ ability to wage war. At the same time, the Russian military is guided by the logic that if destabilisation occurs as a result of strikes in Kyiv, it will spread to the rest of the country as well.
“All of this comes down to their ultimate goal, which is reinforced in their internal documents. First, since they are unable to carry out a blitzkrieg by capturing all of Ukraine, the objective is to seize Donetsk and Luhansk Regions. Second, it concerns our upcoming elections: they set themselves the goal of getting leadership in Ukraine that would be at least neutral in its attitude toward the Russian Federation,” Skibitskyy said.
He also listed critical infrastructure among the priority targets.
“In winter, it is electricity and heat supply systems. Now, first of all, it is the defence industry. Second, it is logistics—railways, port infrastructure, and shipping. Russia is carrying out terror against ships in the Black Sea. This is an unprecedented situation—when not only are civilian vessels being hit, but they are methodically finished off and destroyed to prevent us from being able to conduct trade. At the same time, they are also trying to attack energy facilities on which the functioning of logistics and port infrastructure depends,” the representative of the DIU explained.