Putin panic as Russia runs low on best missiles and war turns against him

Russia’s horrifying barrage of Kyiv over the weekend has put the war in Ukraine on top of the news agenda. On Sunday overnight, Moscow launched one of the harshest attack against the Ukrainian capital in the war’s history, which involved 600 drones and 90 missiles, 36 of which were ballistic ones. That night, Vladimir Putin’s regime became responsible for killing four people and injuring about 100.

Soon after the attack, Russia has threatened to launch a new wave of strikes against Kyiv, calling for foreign nationals and diplomats to leave Kyiv “as soon as possible” and warning citizens to avoid administrative and military buildings. Despite the fear-inducing statements, analysts claim Russia is merely playing a narrative game to reclaim its image of ‘limitless capabilities’ amid increasing exhaustion.

Russia’s weakening position has been reflected at the Victory Day military parade, which, for the first time in nearly two decades, showed no military hardware as it needed to be used on the battlefield. Ukraine has been intensifying its attacks against Russia, and not just against its oil facilities. Last week, it carried out a deadly attack on a Russian student dormitory in the occupied territories, killing eighteen people and injuring 42 others.

On the frontline, Russia is crawling, rather than advancing – at its average monthly rate of advance so far this year, it would take it more than three decades to seize full control of the Donbas, The New York Times reports. More surprisingly, the negative effects of the war on Russia’s economy has turned even those in Putin’s inner circles sceptical about the course of the war, with some insiders citing “profound disappointment” in the leader.

Putin’s recent warnings may therefore be only part of an effort to shift the narrative “rather than something meaningful in conventional military terms”, Keir Giles, an associate fellow of Chatham House’s Russia and Eurasia programme, told The Telegraph.

He said: “The inching back of the front line, together with Ukraine’s deep strikes into Russia, have shown many people the deep cracks in Russia’s previous narrative that its victory was inevitable.”

Where Putin’s claims about further systematic attacks face a true reality check is capacity. According to Khrapchynskyi, Russia often needs weeks to gather enough missiles and drones for another large-scale strike package. Ukrainian officials said the most recent Russian missiles were sent straight from the production line, suggesting Moscow’s strategic stockpiles are running low.

Throughout May 2025, Russia fired 83 missiles throughout May 2025. At the weekend, it surpassed that in one barrage. This suggests Moscow was willing to ransack its reserves to send a message, even though the drones cost a whopping £268 million, The Telegraph reports.

Anatolii Khrapchynskyi, a Ukrainian defence industry expert, said: “Many of these attacks are designed for psychological and media effect rather than for achieving decisive military results.”