Russia’s own news reporting acknowledges that many of the 300,000 reservists it recently mobilized to fight in Ukraine don’t have basic equipment like flack-jackets or medical kits, let alone weapons. Vladimir Putin aims to fix Russian military production shortfalls with a newly organized committee.

The Associated Press reported that Putin chaired the new committee on Tuesday, urging its assembled government and industry members to accelerate the production and delivery of weapons and supplies for Russian troops, stressing the need to “gain higher tempo in all areas.”

The fact that Russia cannot sustain a high tempo expending precision munitions in Ukraine was illustrated by its missile strike attack against 20 cities, including Kyiv, on October 10 the Washington DC-based Institute for the Study of War said in a release earlier this month.

The Institute cited a report from the Ukrainian General Staff stating that Russian forces launched over 84 cruise missiles and 24 drone attacks, 13 of which were carried out with Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones. Ukrainian air defenses claimed to have shot down 43 cruise missiles, 10 Shahed-136 drones, and 3 unspecified drones.

Further precision munitions launches from Russian strategic bombers and Iskander short-range ballistic missile systems in/near southern Ukraine as well as Shahed drones from the Crimea and Belarus were not sustained following the initial barrage.