2024-07-12 09:10:15
A Russian missile attack in Ukraine on Monday killed at least 43 people and injured nearly 200, including a direct hit to the Ochmatdyt Children’s Hospital in Kyiv that killed at least four children and two adults. According to the United Nations, Russia may have fired a Kh-101 air-to-surface cruise missile carrying several hundred kilograms of explosives from the plane at the children’s hospital.
Moscow claimed that Ukrainian air defenses caused the damage in Kiev, although eyewitness video of the impact showed the missile’s wings, nose, fuselage and outboard engine typical of the Kh-101 missile.
Russia’s ability to continue buying Western-made parts on the open market and importing them through China underscores Moscow’s success in avoiding wartime sanctions.
Production of the Kh-101 has increased eightfold, from 56 units in 2021, according to a report last month by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a British defense think tank. up to 420 units last year.
in 2022 The RUSI report said the Kh-101 had 31 foreign components, parts of which were made by companies including US-based Intel Corporation and AMD-owned Xilinx.
However, experts also told the Financial Times that smuggled components that are not intended for military use are causing up to 20 percent of Russian cruise missiles to fail. cases, sometimes completely preventing their launch.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky plans to raise the issue of Western components in Russian missiles at the NATO summit in Washington this week, Vladyslav Vlasiuk, a sanctions expert in the presidential office, told the Financial Times.
2024-07-12 09:10:15