«The enemy began to use soviet missiles capable of carrying a nuclear charge», — informed the representative of the Central Military Scientific Department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel Mykola Danyliuk, at a briefing at the Military Media Center on December 1, 2022.
Against the background of the lack of success at the front and due to the inability to win a victory on the battlefield, the terrorist country, the Russian Federation, continues to launch missile strikes on critical infrastructure facilities and civilian neighborhoods in various regions of our country.
"In mass attacks, they use different types of air attack means," Colonel Danylyuk said. "Yes, in the period from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. on October 31, 2022, the enemy carried out another massive attack on the territory of Ukraine using more than 50 cruise missiles, most of which were identified as Kh-101 missiles and 3M-14 missiles from the warehouse of the Kalibr complex."
According to Mykola Danylyuk, after the shelling in the villages of Subich and Knyazhpil of the Kamianets-Podilsky district of the Khmelnytskyi region and in the village of Zastavne of the Lviv region, fragments of cruise missiles were found, which had not been used by the enemy until now.
"As a result of the identification carried out by a mobile group of officers of the Center for the Research of Trophy and Prospective Weapons and Military Equipment, it was established that these fragments belong to the Kh-55 "nuclear" strategic cruise missile. This is a Soviet missile designed to strike strategic targets whose coordinates are known in advance. It flies at an extremely low altitude, at a subsonic speed, with the ability to go around the area's topography," said Colonel Danylyuk.
A representative of the Central Military Scientific Department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine noted that the change in the tactics of using air attack means, namely: the use of Soviet-made cruise missiles equipped with a non-explosive warhead, "is most likely caused by several factors."
"Firstly, it can be argued that the deliberate launch of these missiles is aimed at conducting demonstration actions, distracting the attention of the Ukrainian air defense system, exhausting it at the time when the modern Russian Kh-101 and 3M-14 missiles of the Kalibr complex are directed on objects of critical infrastructure, residential quarters, which can significantly increase the efficiency of their use," Mykola Danylyuk said. "In other words, the launch of these missiles is aimed at "opening up" the air defense system of our country and exhausting it."
Moreover, the General Staff officer emphasized that even an "unequipped" missile poses a significant threat of inflicting indiscriminate damage - due to the missile's kinetic energy and remaining fuel, as evidenced by the latest strike when the Kh-55 missile hit a residential building.
"Secondly, this is the depletion of the Russian Federation's reserves of modern cruise missiles," said a representative of the Central Military and Scientific Administration regarding the reasons for using old Soviet "nuclear" missiles.
He noted that all the X-55 missiles discovered without exception had their serial numbers intentionally erased.
"All of you and I understand very well who resorts to such acts - first of all, they are criminals, terrorists who want to hide the traces of the committed crime," noted Mykola Danylyuk.
Answering the question of the ArmiyaInform correspondent about the obliterated serial numbers of the missiles, Colonel Danylyuk shared his guesses that these could be missiles that Ukraine once handed over to the Russian Federation (Note: in 1999 as payment for the supply of natural gas). Also, the representative of the Central Military Scientific Department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that the research of the remains of the rocket showed a normal radiation background, which indicates the absence of contact of the rocket fragments with nuclear elements.
On December 1, at a briefing of representatives of the Security and Defense Forces of Ukraine, fragments of the combat part of the Kh-55SM missile, which the Russian Federation uses during shelling of Ukraine, were demonstrated. This is a modification with an increased range of the Soviet Kh-55 cruise missile, which Russia uses to attack Ukraine from Tu-95 and Tu-160 strategic bombers in March 2022. These subsonic missiles fly at extremely low altitudes, skirting the terrain.
