Sifting through the rubble after a Russian missile attack in October, Ukrainian intelligence officials discovered something unexpected.
Gen. Vadym Skibitsky, Ukraine's deputy intelligence chief, told The New York Times that the Kh-55 subsonic cruise missile had been designed in the 1970s to carry a nuclear warhead. The missile wreckage revealed that a ballast had been added to conceal the fact that it was not carrying a warhead. It also revealed that the missile had been manufactured in a Ukrainian weapons factory.
In November, Ukrainian forces found the remnants of two more Ukrainian-made Kh-55 missiles.
The missiles were part of a stockpile of munitions ceded to Russia in the 1990s under an international agreement, known as the Budapest Memorandum, designed to guarantee Ukraine's status as a sovereign nation, Skibitsky said.
Ukraine agreed to transfer its nuclear arsenal, the third largest in the world at the time, to Russia for decommissioning in return for security assurances.
"All ballistic missiles, Tu-160 and Tu-95 strategic bombers were also handed over," Skibitsky said. "Now, they are using Kh-55 missiles against us with these bombers. It would be better if we handed them over to the USA."
Russia's use of Ukraine's missiles serves a strategic goal of forcing Ukraine to engage its air-defense system.
"First, the Kh-55 missile is launched; we react to it," Skibitsky said. "It's like a false target."
With the Ukrainian air defense system engaged by the decoys, Russian bombers launch more modern missiles, equipped with devastating warheads.
Skibitsky also offered an assessment of Russia's current capabilities, which largely supports public statements from the Pentagon, other Ukrainian military officials and the British Ministry of Defense.
"According to our calculations, they have missiles for another three to five waves of attacks," he said. "This is if there are 80 to 90 rockets in one wave."
Russia launched more than 70 missiles into Ukraine last Monday after an attack by Ukraine on two military facilities deep within Russia.
Though its supply of modern missiles is believed to be dwindling, Russian arms factories have been able to build 240 precision Kh-101 cruise missiles and approximately 120 of the sea-based Kalibr cruise missiles since the war began, Skibitsky told the Times.
Flouting Western sanctions, Russia has continued to manufacture new precision missiles as recently as October, according to a report from Conflict Armament Research.
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