«Russia has a reason to pressure Ukraine»: Zhdanov warns of next mass strike, reveals possible date

On the morning of December 23, Russia unleashed a massive, coordinated strike on Ukraine, firing missiles and deploying combat drones. Energy infrastructure in western and central regions came under fire. The latest bombardment resulted in civilian deaths and injuries. Emergency power outages have been implemented.

Military expert Oleh Zhdanov told TSN.ua why this attack stood out, why Russia paused so long between waves, and when the next strike could come.

Missile strike on Ukraine on December 23

According to him, the core of the attack was the «Geranium» combat drones. Russia launched more than 650 drones across Ukraine.

«They spent the entire night grinding down our air defenses. Aircraft were launched only at night, and by early morning missiles started entering our airspace. The goal was clear — to drain our air defense system to the maximum, ” the military expert said.

According to Oleh Zhdanov, «Shahed» drones struck key infrastructure targets, including electrical substations.

«When the situation reaches this level, we are forced to use surface-to-air missile systems against drones — an extremely costly option. More importantly, our stock of missiles is limited. Once air defenses are exhausted, the systems need to be reloaded. That is precisely when missiles arrive in the morning, when our ability to intercept them is already significantly reduced. This is how the current attack was designed.»

What set the mass strike apart

He also pointed out that Russia did not deploy ballistic missiles in the latest mass strike. In Oleh Zhdanov’s assessment, they were deliberately held back for the next attack, which could come soon.

«As for why there were no ballistic missiles, I think they are spacing them out between strikes — and the next one could well come on Christmas. After all, December 25 is not a holiday for them; they celebrate on January 7. That makes it entirely plausible. They have plenty of „Shahed“ drones. We know they are producing them in large numbers. That means they can repeat a strike of the same scale — 500 to 600 „Shaheds“ — several times in succession, and then add, for example, ballistic missiles. That would amount to a full-fledged combined attack, once again aimed at infrastructure targets, ” the expert said.

Russia is preparing its next strike on Ukraine

In Oleh Zhdanov’s assessment, Russia is likely to move quickly to repeat the attack, seeking to push toward its end goal of inflicting damage on Ukraine.

«When it comes to missile numbers, based on statements from Ukraine’s chief intelligence official, Russia currently holds roughly up to 1,000 missiles of various types. Taking into account their usage and ongoing production, they are effectively keeping a steady stockpile of around 900 to 1,000 missiles for different types of missile systems, ” Zhdanov said.

Russia has a reason to increase pressure on Ukraine

The lengthy pause in mass strikes since December 6 was driven more by politics than by military considerations, the expert believes.

«It was all about negotiations — meetings and related processes. Today, Marco Rubio said outright that the talks had hit a dead end. Then J.D. Vance offhandedly remarked that negotiations might yield good results — or they might not. In reality, everything has snapped back to square one. That gives Russia a pretext to ramp up pressure on Ukraine. And pressure means blackouts and strikes on critical infrastructure. I think they were waiting to see whether these talks — and this „Kremlin administration official, ” Steve Witkoff — would extract concessions from us, especially on territorial issues. For Putin, territory is a red-line issue, ” the expert said.