Who's right? The WSJ or General Miley's leaked report to the Joint Chiefs?

A few weeks ago, Miley's (Chairman of the Jt Chiefs of Staff) report(a confidential briefing for America's major generals) got hacked and distributed online. Among the bombs in the report were the fact that the Ukraine air defense system would be effectively zero by the end of May.

Yet the WSJ leaves the impression that Ukraine is still effectively shooting down the vast majority of incoming projectiles. Do I believe the mass media? Sure! They'd never lie to us.

Russia Missiles Seek to Erode Ukraine’s Air Defense

Kyiv intercepts most missiles, but at least three people are killed in attack on civilian centers

By Stephen Kalin, WSJ

Updated May 1, 2023 4:25 pm ET

KYIV, Ukraine—Russia launched another barrage of missiles at cities across Ukraine following last week’s deadly attacks, as Moscow seeks to erode Ukrainian air defenses ahead of a planned offensive by Kyiv in coming weeks.

Air raid sirens were activated in the early hours of Monday in the capital, Kyiv, and at least five other Ukrainian regions far from the front lines. Ukrainian air defenses intercepted 15 of the 18 missiles launched by Russian jets, its military said.

The strikes killed a 14-year-old boy near a school in a small town in the northern Chernihiv region and two men in the eastern city of Pavlohrad, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening address.

At least 34 people, including five children, were injured in Pavlohrad as well, Serhiy Lysak, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, said on Telegram. Residences, shops and schools were also reportedly damaged.

Ukraine has resisted Russian missile barrages throughout the fall and winter aimed at disabling its energy grid and sapping Ukrainians’ morale. On Friday, at least 23 people, including four children, were killed when a Russian rocket struck a residential district in Uman, a city south of Kyiv.

The frequency of those attacks has diminished, but Russia continued sporadic strikes throughout spring as its military campaign to gain territory in Ukraine’s east largely ground to a halt. Moscow hopes the attacks will wear down Ukraine’s air defenses ahead of Ukraine’s planned offensive.

“The enemy carried out another massive air attack on Ukraine tonight,” Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, wrote on Telegram. He said drones were also used in the attack and reported no casualties or damage to civilian infrastructure in the capital.

The U.S. and other Western allies have pledged to help Ukraine defend itself from Russian missiles. Patriot air-defense systems pledged by the Biden administration in December as part of a nearly $2 billion arms package began arriving in Ukraine last month.

“I am grateful for those who protect Ukraine’s skies, and the United States will continue to work hard and fast to support them and their ability to defeat Russia’s barbaric attacks on the people of Ukraine,” U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink tweeted after Monday’s attacks.

Ukraine is currently gearing up for an offensive to wrest control of territories occupied by Russia. Many of the weapons pledged by Kyiv’s Western allies earlier this year—including dozens of modern battle tanks—have been delivered and crews are training on them.

Along the front line in the east of the country, Ukraine’s armed forces repelled dozens of attacks by Russian forces over the past 24 hours, according to Ukraine’s general staff.

A spokesman for the White House National Security Council said that Russian losses, mainly due to the fight over the city of Bakhmut, have been steep in recent months.

“Since December, we estimate that Russia has suffered more than 100,000 casualties, including over 20,000 killed in action,” Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby told reporters Monday.

Ukrainian commanders have said they want to wear down Russian forces and buy time for an offensive but have faced heavy losses of their own in fierce fighting over the city.

While missile barrages have become less frequent, Russia continues to shell Ukraine daily. Rockets damaged medical facilities and private homes in the Kupyansk district in northern Ukraine over the weekend, said the head of the region’s military administration, Oleh Synehubov.

Inside Russia’s Bryansk region, which sits on the border with Ukraine, an explosive device laid on railroad tracks derailed a train carrying fuel, causing a fire to break out and likely causing delays on the route, Russian state media reported, citing the governor. No injuries were reported.

Earlier, in the Leningrad region, a power transmission tower was struck by another explosive device, and authorities said they were opening a criminal case into suspected sabotage.

Moscow has blamed Ukraine for a number of incidents inside Russia and on the Crimean Peninsula—which Russia has occupied since 2014—most recently a blaze at a fuel-storage facility in the Crimean city of Sevastopol, which Moscow said was caused by a Ukrainian drone.

Meanwhile, the State Department on Monday confirmed the death of a U.S. citizen in Ukraine, without providing additional details out of respect for the victim’s family, according to a spokesman. All possible consular assistance is being provided, he said.

Thomas Grove, Vivian Salama and William Mauldin contributed to this article.