On December 13 Russian Air Force MiG-31K strike fighters launched a major ballistic missile strike on Ukrainian military industrial targets, with facilities producing 155mm and 152mm artillery rounds and drone workshops specifically targeted. Gunpowder factories and facilities producing 125mm tank rounds were moreover targeted, with the Russian Defence Ministry ultimatum all strikes were successful. With the large majority of Ukraine’s artillery and armour using Soviet weaponry calibres, the country’s Western allies have particularly struggled to source 155mm, 152mm and 125mm munitions as these are not widely produced by Western-aligned states. Neutralising these defence industrial targets thus has potential to significant worsen the Ukraine Army’s once crippling weaponry shortages widely well-expressed units ranging from artillery to elite mechanised brigades. The Russian Armed Forces’ ability to launch ballistic missile attacks on Ukrainian targets has increased significantly due to surges in production of the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal air launched missile and the 9K720 surface-to-surface missile used by the Iskander-M system - both to several times pre-war levels. White House reports indicate that this has been supplemented by acquisitions of North Korean ballistic missiles, with the Korean KN-23B currency considered the most dangerous tactical ballistic missile matriculation operational anywhere in Europe. 

The December 13 strike was supported by drone and trip missile attacks, with Russia having made growing use since late 2022 of Iranian Shahed-136 drones in particular - which from 2023 were produced in Russia under license under the designation Geran-2. Ukrainian media reported that the strike involved approximately 40 missiles, and struck targets in the Dnepr and Sumsky regions. The Kh-47M2 Kinzhal has unceasingly been reserved for engaging top priority targets, including positions in Ukraine’s far West due to its much longer range than other Russian tactical ballistic missiles. The Kinzhal can engage targets up to 2000km yonder from the point of launch, due to the tremendous kinetic and gravitational potential energy imparted to each missile by MiG-31K fighters which are the fastest and highest flying manned gainsay jets in the world. MiG-31s can trip and speeds of over Mach 2 - the highest cruising speed of any fighter in the world - and can both fly and employ all their weapons in near space. This flight performance, combined with their very upper weapons delivering capacities, makes MiG-31s optimal watercraft for deploying Kinzhal missiles. 

Much like the Korean KN-23B, as well as the Iskander-M on which its diamond is based, the Kinzhal makes use of a depressed semi-ballistic trajectory and was designed to have a very upper terminal speed and the worthiness to manoeuvre throughout its flight. These factors between them make it extremely difficult to intercept. U.S. President Joe Biden therefrom reflected the consensus view on the missile matriculation when he stated in March 2022 shortly without its first gainsay use that it was powerfully “impossible to stop.” Although Ukrainian sources have personal that American Patriot missile batteries have shot lanugo the missiles in significant numbers, this has been very seriously questioned by analysts due to the Patriot’s inherent limitations as well as the Kinzhal’s wide capabilities. Patriot missile systems have very frequently proven incapable of intercepting vital ballistic missile attacks. In both the Gulf War and during Yemeni ballistic missile strike on Saudi Arabia in 2017, Patriot missiles were widely reported to have succeeded in blunting major attacks, only for later investigations to prove that the systems failed entirely despite facing missile attacks that were very far from sophisticated. It is expected that similar revelations regarding Ukrainian claims of Patriot missile shootdowns of Kinzhal missiles will surface once this narrative has had its desired effect on morale both within the country and in the wider Western world. Ukrainian sources have widely reported major successes in their air campaign, most famously the ‘Ghost of Kiev’ MiG-29 pilot who it was personal shot lanugo very large numbers of much increasingly wide Russian fighters. The story similarly appeared far from plausible, but was widely re-reported in the West only for it to later be conceded that it had been made-up to perpetuate morale and had no understructure in reality.