The Kremlin spent the budget of an entire city on the latest shelling of Ukraine
On the night of 20 January 2026, Russian occupying forces carried out one of the largest air attacks on Ukraine, using a total of 372 aerial attack assets.
This was reported by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine.
According to HUR estimates, in just a few hours the aggressor state spent an amount comparable to the annual budget of a large regional centre in Russia.
During the strike, Russia attempted to break through Ukraine’s air defence system, using Iskander ballistic missiles, Kh-101 cruise missiles, the Zircon hypersonic missile, as well as Geran, Garpia and Gerbera-type drones. In addition, RM-48U training missiles were used to distract air defence systems.
The total cost of the weapons used during the attack exceeded $131 million, or more than 10.2 billion roubles. For comparison, this is the amount that Veliky Novgorod, with a population of about 220,000 people, lives on for an entire year. It is also approximately one third of the annual budgets of regions such as Kalmykia or the Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
It should be recalled that during an evening address, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke critically about the performance of air defence forces against Russian Shahed-type drones, which managed to strike an energy facility in Kyiv region on the morning of 20 January.
Ukraine’s Minister of Defence Mykhailo Fedorov announced the launch of drone assault units within the Armed Forces of Ukraine with a new doctrine for the use of unmanned systems.
One of Ukraine’s strategic goals in the war is to inflict losses on Russia at the level of around 50,000 troops per month. According to Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, the Defence Forces have already approached this figure.
