Russia is using nuclear-capable cruise missiles fitted with non-explosive warheads to exhaust Ukraine’s air defences, the BBC reported on December 2, 2022, citing fragments of Kh-55 missiles (known by NATO as AS-15 Kent) recovered in Ukraine.
Ballast instead of warheads
The UK Ministry of Defence said on November 26 that Russia had likely removed the nuclear warheads from ageing Kh-55 air-launched cruise missiles, designed in the 1980s “exclusively as a nuclear delivery system,” and fired them at Ukraine with ballast in their place.
Such inert missiles can still cause some damage through their kinetic energy and remaining fuel, but are unlikely to reliably hit intended targets. Russia likely hopes they will act as decoys to divert Ukrainian air defences, British intelligence said, adding that the improvisation “highlights the level of depletion in Russia’s stock of long-range missiles.”
Shot down over Kyiv
On November 18, Ukrainska Pravda reported, citing Defense Express, that one of two cruise missiles shot down over Kyiv the previous day was a Kh-55 carrying a simulator in place of a nuclear warhead. Russia has typically used the conventional Kh-555 variant and the newer Kh-101 for its strikes on Ukraine.
Strain on air defences
Russia has launched waves of missile and drone attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since October. Forcing Ukraine to spend scarce interceptors on harmless decoys could leave it with fewer missiles to stop armed ones.
Sources
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