Russian President Vladimir has been caught in an embarrassing blunder as his army’s outdated weaponry proved ineffective against Ukraine’s air defences in a strike on Kyiv on Friday.
According to a report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a prominent Russian military blogger disclosed that Moscow attempted to confuse Ukrainian defences by using decoy Kh-55 cruise missiles, which closely resembled the modernised Kh-101 missile variant.
The blogger, known for providing insights into Russia’s military strategies, explained that the deployment of these decoy missiles was aimed at overwhelming and confusing Ukrainian air defences.
However, the attempt failed, as the ISW highlighted the limitations of Russia’s outdated arsenal.
The ISW quoted the milblogger as saying: “It is virtually impossible for Russian forces to launch enough decoys to overload Ukrainian air defences due to Russia’s limited number of Tu-95 and Tu-160 bombers.”
These bombers, which carry the outdated Kh-55 and other variants, have become a challenge for Russia in compensating for dwindling high-precision missile stockpiles.
The failed attempt to saturate Ukrainian air defences with decoy missiles reveals a vulnerability in Russia’s military capabilities.
Russia also fired eight ballistic missiles at Kyiv early Monday, all of which were shot down, Ukraine’s Air Force said. The thwarted attack still left one person injured by shrapnel and three more suffered severe stress reactions, officials said.
A series of loud explosions rang out in Ukraine’s capital just after 4am, as the city was under its nightly curfew, followed by air raid sirens.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said that in Darnytskyi district of eastern Kyiv the debris of an intercepted missile fell without catching fire, and elsewhere in the capital the explosive wave damaged the windows of a house.
Kyiv is routinely targeted by Russian drone and missile attacks.
