The UK Ministry of Defense announced on Tuesday that it had analyzed the 2024 March 31 open-source photos showing missile debris falling in a field in the Saratov region of southern Russia, Business Insider reports.
Initially thought to be parts of a Ukrainian drone, closer inspection revealed that the wreckage is likely fragments of a Russian Ch-101/Ch-102 air-launched cruise missile.
“It is highly likely that this debris is from missiles launched into Ukraine earlier that morning,” the UK Ministry of Defense said.
In the Saratov region, there is Engels airfield, where several bombers are based, which carry out long-range strikes against Ukraine.
The Ch-101 missile is a Russian first-class precision-guided missile with a range of about 4,000 km. It was designed to attack important military targets such as airfields and warships. Russia is now actively using such missiles against Ukraine, and recently they have been directed against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure or grain towers.
“The failure of such a prestigious missile is likely to indicate production problems, which may have been influenced by sanctions and haste,” British intelligence said.
On March 31, during the night from Sunday to Monday, Russian forces launched a massive missile attack in Ukraine. 14 cruise missiles are said to have been launched from Tu-95MS aircraft.
In March, Russia also bombarded Ukraine with flying bombs, which Ukraine can counter only by destroying the planes that drop them. March 27 Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Russia had dropped about 700 flying bombs on Ukraine in six days.
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2024-04-11 21:43:24