Putin 'fires cruise missiles with dummy nuclear warheads' at Ukraine

Putin fires cruise missiles with dummy nuclear warheads at Ukraine because their missile stocks are so depleted, UK government says

• MoD cited pictures of apparently shot down AS-15 Kent air launched cruise missiles
• It added the Kremlin likely hopes the missiles will distract Ukrainian air defences
• MoD said the improvisation is ‘unlikely to achieve reliable effects’ 

Putin is firing cruise missiles with dummy nuclear warheads at Ukrainian targets because Russia’s missile stocks are so low, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has suggested. 

In an intelligence update on Saturday the MoD said the improvisation by the Russian President’s struggling forces is ‘unlikely to achieve reliable effects’.

The evidence cited are pictures of apparently shot down AS-15 Kent air launched cruise missiles, which were said to have been designed in the 1980s as a nuclear delivery system. 

The MoD said the nuclear warheads had probably been substituted for ballast, with the Kremlin’s hope likely that the missiles will distract Ukrainian air defences.

Petras Austrevicius, Member of European Parliament. tweeted: ‘Ukrainian air defence shot down over Kiev the Russian missile Kh55 containing imitated nuclear warhead. Russian Kh55 was designed as a strategic system capable of delivering a nuclear warhead 2,500 km. #russia using nuclear terrorism means to intimidate’

The Kh-55 is an air-launched cruise missile. It was the Soviet Union’s response to a US AGM-86 ALCM air-launched cruise missile. Initial production commenced in 1981

‘Although such an inert system will still produce some damage through the missile’s kinetic energy and any unspent fuel, it is unlikely to achieve reliable effects against intended targets,’ a statement said.

‘Whatever Russia’s intent, this improvisation highlights the level of depletion in Russia’s stock of long-range missiles.’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said six million households are without power after the Kremlin targeted Ukrainian infrastructure with missile strikes.

The Ministry of Defence released this intelligence update on November 26

There are growing fears that a major health crisis will hit the Ukrainian people as snow and sub-zero temperatures couple with heating outages.

Visiting Kyiv this week, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly pledged ‘hands-on’ support to help Ukraine through the winter as he committed an extra £3 million to help rebuild infrastructure.

Mr Cleverly said: ‘As winter sets in, Russia is continuing to try and break Ukrainian resolve through its brutal attacks on civilians, hospitals and energy infrastructure. Russia will fail.

‘The UK stands shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine.’

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