Russia Attacking Ukraine with Missiles Assembled from Cannibalized Parts: Media

Russia is attacking Ukraine with missiles assembled from parts cannibalized from other missiles.

Moscow attacked Ukrainian targets in missile salvo launched from long range strategic aircraft such as the Tu-95 since last weekend.

Ukrainian military magazine Defense Express on May 1 said that at least one of 21 missiles shot down on April 28 was a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile which, ground searchers found, sported a fuselage painted not in Russian Air Force gray, but red; a color normally used by the Russian military to show a weapon is experimental.

Ukrainian technical experts, analyzing images of the missile debris, found mismatches between the serial numbers of the missile’s parts as well as anti-jamming and guidance components. It seems the missile was assembled in 2021, while the other parts indicated a date of manufacture of January 2023.

The Kh-101 cruise missile flies low to the ground to avoid radar detection with a 400-450 kg conventional warhead or a nuclear device with an alleged accuracy of 5-10 meters and a range of up to 2,500 km.

Russia reportedly had about 400 Kh-101 missiles in reserve when it started its war with Ukraine and had the capacity to manufacture a further 20 a month. Ukrainian military analysts, as per Kyiv Post estimate that the Kremlin has around 100 of the missiles left in inventory.