 Russia may wage war in Ukraine for years, but ammunition quality in doubt. Russia can likely keep fighting in Ukraine at the current scale for two to five more years, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing military experts. This ability comes despite sanctions aimed at crippling Russia's defense industry. Russia's ability to churn out tanks, missiles and shells has surprised the West and heaped further pressure on Ukraine, the Wall Street Journal said. Russia has ramped up spending, with defense now accounting for over 21% of the federal budget, significantly higher than in 2020. It is predicted that this share will increase in 2024 to more than 29%. Russia also found ways to work around sanctions, acquiring Western components through intermediaries. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in December that Russia was producing 17.5 times as much ammunition, 17 times as many drones and 5.6 times as many tanks as it did before the war. A senior NATO official stated that Russia can likely sustain its war effort at the current scale for two to five more years and at least two European military intelligence agencies share this belief, the Wall Street Journal said. The Central Bank's analysis also shows that much of the increase in defense-related output was in low-tech products such as fabricated steel rather than more sophisticated items like semiconductors for which Russia is reliant on foreign suppliers. The article said, some analysts question Moscow's production boasts. Russia's output figures, for instance, don't differentiate between newly produced armored vehicles and old models brought out of storage and refurbished, the publication said. They are hyping up the numbers. Said Michael Yasta, a researcher at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, based on a review of satellite images before and after the start of the war. In 2023, Russia brought out at least 1,200 old tanks from storage. Yasta said, therefore, Russia produced 330 new tanks in 2023 at the very most, though the true figure is likely to be half that number, he said. Russia has also dipped into reserves of old artillery ammunition, the journalist said. The stockpile now stands at around 3 million rounds, much of which is in poor condition. The Royal United Services Institute, a UK-based think tank, said. Russia's domestic ammunition production isn't sufficient to meet its needs for waging war in Ukraine, meaning Moscow will grow more dependent on foreign allies, the analysts said. Ukrainian Army destroyed the third Russian A-50 military reconnaissance aircraft this year. New satellite images confirmed the hit of Ukrainian drones on the building of an aircraft repair plant in Taganrog. Ukrainian dialogue media outlet reported this. There is no A-50 aircraft near the buildings of the Bereev aircraft plant in the published pictures. The plant fell under attack by Ukrainian drones on the night of March 9 in Taganrog. It was standing next to the plant nine days before. Osint researchers found that the blow fell on the hangar where aircraft in maintenance are usually placed. Most likely the target was the A-50. Russian propagandists started talking about restarting production of this type recently, he wrote. Researchers of the Osint project from Intelligence Insight believe that at the time of the impact, this aircraft could have been in the plant's building. Visible damage to the building on the satellites is enough to damage the aircraft being repaired inside the enterprise. Satellite images confirmed the hit of Ukrainian drones on the building of an aircraft repair plant in Taganrog, which became the main target of a massive strike on the Rostov region last Saturday night. Geospatial analysis of the images was conducted by the Ukrainian Analytical Group for Intelligence Insight. They compared the pictures of the plant from February the 29th and March the 8th and March the 9th. In the picture dated February the 29th, published by the Investigative Project Schemes of the Ukrainian Service of Radio Liberty, four aircraft stood next to the hangar for repair, one of which was the A-50. On March the 8th and 9th, three aircraft remained on the site of the plant and the A-50 was not among them. It is unclear if it was in the building at the time of the attack. For intelligence Insight analysts wrote, Comparative analysis of the images revealed traces of fire on the roof of the final assembly workshop where the A-50 was allegedly repaired. For intelligence Insight researchers reported, explosions occurred near the entrance of the building according to the analysis. Analysis of satellite images shows that at least one S-300-400 system was at the airfield during the attack. If it does not serve as a bait, this indicates the ability of the Ukrainian UAV to overcome Russian air defense systems even in the immediate vicinity of strategic facilities. If the A-50 was indeed damaged as a result of the attack on Taganrog, then this is the third aircraft of this class that has been disabled by the Ukrainian military since the beginning of the year. In January and February, the Ukrainian forces shot down two A-50U aircraft over the Sea of Azov.