Ukraine's military stops disclosing number of intercepted Russian ballistic missiles

Ukraine's military command has stopped including the number of Russian ballistic missiles launched and intercepted in its regular reports, Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat has said, without specifying what prompted the change.

Ihnat said the Air Force will continue informing the public about air threats, the character of Russian attacks, and the outcomes of combat operations. Going forward, Ukraine's Armed Forces will provide media outlets with aggregated data on ballistic missiles and other Russian weapons instead.

Context behind the shift

According to the outlet Strana, Ukraine's Air Force actually stopped reporting the number of downed Russian missiles as early as August 9. The change coincided with a shortage of air defense systems capable of intercepting ballistic missiles. On August 5, Ukraine was unable to shoot down any of the 28 missiles Russia launched that day.

The next day, Ihnat appealed to media outlets not to fuel pessimism among Ukrainians with alarming headlines emphasizing that missiles had not been intercepted. Western outlets have also noted Ukraine's shift away from publishing interception figures. According to a source cited by Bloomberg, Ukraine's Air Force altered its reporting format as a security measure.