Russians bombard Ukraine with nuclear missile blanks from nuclear missiles to distract air defense systems - British intelligence
Russia is removing nuclear warheads from aging nuclear cruise missiles and firing blanks at Ukraine. The purpose of these actions is to distract the air defense system.
Such a conclusion was reached by the intelligence of Great Britain, Censor.NET reports with reference to the Twitter of the British Ministry of Defense.
As emphasized in the summary, the images from open sources show the wreckage of an apparently downed AS-15 KENT air-launched cruise missile, developed in the 1980s exclusively as a nuclear delivery system. The warhead was probably replaced by ballast.
According to British intelligence, while such an inert system would still cause some damage from the missile's kinetic energy and any unspent fuel, it was unlikely to reliably engage targets.
"Russia almost certainly hopes that such missiles will serve as false targets and distract the Ukrainian air defense system. Whatever Russia's intentions are, this improvisation emphasizes the level of depletion of Russia's long-range missile reserves," the British Ministry of Defense notes.
