Eng "Rus, due to missile depletion, seems to have fired old models without nuclear warheads"

On the 20th (local time), an aircraft was destroyed by shelling at Kherson International Airport located in the village of Chornobaivka on the outskirts of Kherson in southern Ukraine, which is at war due to the Russian invasion. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] Russia, suffering from missile depletion due to the prolonged war, has recently been observed launching missiles by removing warheads from old models equipped with nuclear warheads.

On the 26th (local time), the UK Ministry of Defence revealed through a report from the Defence Intelligence (DI) agency posted on Twitter that "photos of the wreckage of a Russian cruise missile recently shot down in Ukraine clearly show it to be an AS-15 KENT missile, designed in the 1980s to carry nuclear warheads." It also explained that the missile's nuclear warhead is believed to have been replaced with a different counterweight.

The UK Ministry of Defence added, "Whatever Russia's intention, such makeshift missiles indicate that Russia's stock of long-range missiles is running low," and "While these missiles may have some destructive power through kinetic energy and fuel, they do not seem likely to inflict sufficient damage on their targets."

Western military experts have analyzed that Russia's missile inventory is running out, citing evidence such as Russia's repeated use of the S-300 surface-to-air missiles first produced in the former Soviet Union. The increasing use of Iranian drones by Russia in attacks on Ukraine is also attributed to the same background.