Since February 24, 2022, Russia has conducted the largest sustained missile campaign in Europe since World War II. Thousands of cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and one-way attack drones have struck Ukrainian territory, targeting everything from power plants and heating infrastructure to military command posts and civilian residential buildings.
Scale of the Campaign
By early 2025, Russia had launched an estimated 9,000+ missiles and 13,000+ Shahed-series drones against Ukraine. The attacks have come in waves, with massive combined strikes sometimes involving 100+ projectiles launched simultaneously from land, sea, and air platforms.
The campaign has evolved significantly over three years. Early strikes focused on military targets — airfields, ammunition depots, command centers. By October 2022, Russia shifted to systematic attacks on Ukraine's energy grid, attempting to freeze the population into submission during winter months.
Weapons Used
Russia employs a diverse arsenal of stand-off weapons:
- Kalibr (3M-14) — Sea-launched cruise missiles fired from Black Sea and Caspian Fleet vessels. Range ~1,500 km. The workhorse of early strikes.
- Kh-101/Kh-555 — Air-launched cruise missiles deployed from Tu-95MS and Tu-160 strategic bombers. Range 2,500+ km.
- Iskander-M (9M723) — Road-mobile short-range ballistic missiles. Range ~500 km. Quasi-ballistic trajectory makes interception difficult.
- Kh-22/Kh-32 — Supersonic anti-ship missiles repurposed for land attack. Mach 4.6 terminal speed, extremely difficult to intercept.
- Kh-47M2 Kinzhal — Air-launched ballistic missile claimed to be hypersonic. Launched from MiG-31K aircraft.
- Shahed-136/Geran-2 — Iranian-designed one-way attack drones. Cheap ($20,000-50,000 each) and used in mass saturation attacks.
The Energy Infrastructure Campaign
Starting October 10, 2022, Russia launched coordinated strikes against Ukraine's electrical grid. The strategy targeted transformer substations, thermal power plants, and distribution infrastructure. By December 2022, Ukraine had lost approximately 50% of its power generation capacity.
Ukraine's repair crews became remarkably adept at rapid restoration, often bringing damaged substations back online within days. But repeated strikes to the same facilities eventually caused irreparable damage to some components with 12-18 month replacement lead times.
Ukrainian Air Defense Response
Ukraine's air defense network has become the most combat-experienced in the world. The combination of Soviet-era S-300 and Buk systems with Western-supplied Patriot, NASAMS, IRIS-T, and Gepard systems has created a layered defense that regularly intercepts 70-90% of incoming cruise missiles.
However, ballistic missiles remain harder to counter. Only the Patriot system can reliably engage Iskander-M and Kinzhal missiles, and Ukraine has a limited number of Patriot batteries covering its vast territory.
Impact and Lessons
Russia's missile campaign has killed over 2,000 Ukrainian civilians and caused tens of billions of dollars in infrastructure damage. But it has failed to achieve its strategic objective of breaking Ukrainian morale or forcing a negotiated surrender.
The campaign has demonstrated several important lessons for modern warfare: the critical importance of air defense depth, the effectiveness of cheap drones in saturating expensive interceptor systems, and the resilience of civilian populations under sustained bombardment.