Russia is tearing through its munitions stockpiles faster than it can refill them, top US intel chief says

The top US intelligence official said recently that Russian forces were using their weapons at a faster rate than the country's arms makers could replenish them.

According to the director of national intelligence, Russia is burning through its weapons quickly.

"I think it's pretty extraordinary, and our own sense is that they aren't capable of indigenously producing what they're doing at this point," he said. "So that is going to be a challenge, and that's why you see them going to other countries to try to get the weapons they need."

They have indicated that their precision munitions are running out fast. How viable those stockpiles are, how much they have, what they can use in different conflicts are all questions that we look at carefully with our allies and partners.

For months now, Russia has been using long-range precision missiles to target civilian areas and infrastructure in Ukraine, while Moscow's forces continue to suffer battlefield losses. Insider has previously reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been using a limited amount of weapons for these attacks.

The country's air force said that Russia launched missiles into Ukrainian territory on Monday. "Moscow targeted critical civilian infrastructure trying to deprive people of power, water, and heating amid freezing temperatures," Kuleba said.

It is not clear how many types of munition Russia has, though the Ukrainian Defense Minister shared a graphic to social media in late November that claimed to show the status of Russia's missile arsenal. The post included various missiles launched from the ground, sea, and air, as well as how much of a specific missile's arsenal has been exhausted over the course of the war.

—Oleksii Reznikov (@oleksiireznikov) November 22, 2022

According to US officials, Russia has turned to countries like Iran and North Korea for weapons and military hardware because of the international sanctions it has imposed.

"We've indicated we've seen some movement, but it's not been a lot at this stage, and it is one of the ones we're watching quite carefully because it would be significant, potentially."

Russia has used the Shahed-136 suicide loitering munition from Iran to target Ukraine's civil infrastructure. As Russia's stockpiles run low, these drones are a good alternative because they are cheaper than precision weapons.

"We've seen the Russians looking for other types of precision munitions from Iran, which will be very concerning in terms of their capacity, more generally."