Ukraine is using a move right out of Russia’s playbook

Ukraine is pulling a move right out of Russia’s playbook and using the country’s older Soviet air defense missiles to help aid its armed force in their counter-offensive against the Kremlin’s armies in the eastern occupied territories according to Popular Mechanics. 

For months there have been reports of Russian forces using older Soviet-era missiles in a variety of attacks as the country has allegedly run low on its missile stocks. Ukrainian Deputy Intelligence Chief General Vadym Skibitsky relayed one occurrence in late 2022. 

Speaking with the New York Times in December, Skibitsky explained that the Russians had used a KH-55 in an October attack. The model of the missile drew attention from the country’s security forces because it was originally designed and made in the 1970s.

More importantly, the KH-55 was built in Ukrainian factories and was designed to carry a nuclear warhead, though that part of the missile's functionality was removed. Two more KH-55 missiles were also discovered according to Skibitsky and were used as decoys. 

The use of older KH-55 missiles to attack Ukraine was seen as an oddity by some while others viewed it as a sign the Kremlin was running out of the tools needed to launch air strikes against Ukraine. Sadly that wasn’t the case and has seen lots of attacks since. 

Russia has had periods where it may have run low on its modern missile stock and that has been best exemplified by the use of the country’s S-300 anti-aircraft munitions to hit ground targets inside Ukraine. 

In January, Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihhat explained in a briefing that the use of older S-300 and newer S-400 anti-aircraft systems to strike targets on the ground indicated that Russian forces had “fewer ballistic missiles.”

It was a savvy move on the part of the Russians even if some of the country’s older air defense missiles had been used to target Ukrainian cities, and it's a move Kyiv picked up on and might have begun using itself according to a report from Popular Mechanics. 

Sébastien Roblin reported on a video posted to Twitter allegedly showing a missile from a Ukrainian S-200 air defense system slamming into a sawmill somewhere near Bytosh in Russia’s Bryansk Oblast. 

Roblin noted the missile in the video appeared to be a V-880 Vega, a type of missile that is used by Ukraine’s S-200 systems, and pointed out that Russian authorities said each of the missiles stop by electronic warfare or by the country's air defense network. 

Photo credit: Wiki Commons

The missiles were apparently on their way to attack targets in Crimea as well as near Rostov and Kaluga but the Ukrainian officials have neither confirmed nor denied what the Russians claimed according to Roblin’s reporting. 

Knowing if there is any truth in the story that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are using its older air defense systems in a ground attack capacity isn’t easy but there are clues in support of each side of the argument. 

First, Roblin noted that Ukraine decommissioned its S-200 systems over a decade ago but retained about three or four batteries worth of launchers in its reserves. There was talk in 2010 about reactivating the weapons but there was never any proof it happened. 

Photo credit: Wiki Commons

However, Roblin also noted that it was recently revealed the United States attempted to pressure Bulgaria into transferring a number of weapons systems to Ukraine—including S-200 and S-300 air defense systems—in exchange for NASAMS missiles and F-16s. 

The Drive also picked up the story and noted the use of the S-200 as a means of ground attack weapon was possible but conceded Ukraine could have just as easily reactivated its legacy missiles to bolster its dwindling air defense stocks. 

Operational security dictates that we probably won’t know for sure if Ukraine is using its older S-200 stocks in an offensive ground attack capacity but it remains possible Kyiv is doing just that. Regardless of what’s happening, Russia is taking the threat seriously. 

Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov has asked Russian military intelligence to identify the training, storage, and launch sites of Ukraine’s S-200 and similar weapons for preemptive strikes according to the Russian state-owned Sputnik News.