Russia adapts a training missile to lead its ballistic onslaught of Ukraine
LONDON/KYIV, Sept 18 - The bodies of passengers strewn across a bloodied suburban railway platform near Kyiv last month bore grim testament to the escalating air war dominating the conflict in Ukraine.
asserted
bodies → adapt → Ukraine
They were among eight people killed in a barrage of Russian missiles that was mainly focused on industrial facilities in the Brovary district, where the station is located, according to local officials.
uncertain
station → kill → officials
The attack that hit the railway wasn't carried out by Russia's main Iskander strike missile, Ukrainian investigators said, but by a less accurate weapon originally designed to serve as target practice for air defense crews.
asserted
investigators → hit → crews
Russia's mass deployment of these repurposed training missiles, or RM48Us, has driven its aerial onslaught to record levels in recent months, official Ukrainian data seen by Reuters shows.
asserted
data → repurpose → Reuters
RM48Us made up more than half of the 228 ballistic and hypersonic missiles fired at Ukraine in July and early August, according to the figures compiled by military analysts at the General Prosecutor's Office.
uncertain
RM48Us → make → Office
The scale of the RM48U deployment, which hasn't been previously reported, helps show how Russia has been able to expand its attacks over the summer without running down its stocks of Iskanders and other primary strike missiles.
asserted
Russia → report → Iskanders
Moscow has been able to keep up a daily air barrage during a critical window in which Ukraine finds itself highly exposed: It has virtually exhausted its stocks of U.S.-made Patriot interceptors, the only weapons in its arsenal capable of downing Russian ballistic missiles.
asserted
It → keep → missiles
There is little clarity on when fresh supplies might arrive, with more Patriots being funneled to the U.S. military and its allies in the Gulf than to Ukraine.
uncertain
Patriots → be → Ukraine
Russia's defense ministry didn't respond to questions about its use of RM48Us and other missiles in Ukraine.
asserted
ministry → respond → Ukraine
Moscow has denied intentionally harming civilians, saying it only targets military infrastructure.
asserted
it → deny → infrastructure
On August 5, the day of the railway deaths, the defense ministry said it struck a logistics center in Brovary that was being used to store drone components.
asserted
that → say → components
Firing large numbers of RM48Us serves as a way for Russia to drain any remaining Ukrainian interceptor stocks and attack lower-value targets without using up its precision strike missiles, according to Sidharth Kaushal, a senior research fellow at RUSI, a London-based defense think-tank.
uncertain
Russia → fire → RUSI
"Their use allows the Russians to husband the more capable missiles they have, the Iskanders, but also the KN-23s and the Zircons, for winter when they would want to really lean into their ballistic missile campaign," he said.
asserted
he → allow → campaign
Indeed, as the RM48U attacks surged in July, the number of Iskanders fired fell to 38 from more than 100 the previous month, the Ukrainian data showed.
asserted
data → surge → 100
The war in Ukraine has entered yet a new phase.
asserted
war → enter → phase
With battle lines on the ground locked across a ferocious "kill zone", both sides have launched intensifying air campaigns.
asserted
sides → lock → campaigns
Russia has fired hundreds of ballistic missiles over the summer and is widely expected to pound critical infrastructure including heating and power sites this winter.
asserted
Russia → fire → sites
Ukraine, which has a far smaller arsenal of missiles, has unleashed hundreds of long-range drone attacks on Russian refineries, ships and ports.
asserted
which → have → refineries
July saw the deaths of at least 437 civilians in Ukraine, the largest toll recorded in a single month since the early months of the invasion, according to the United Nations, which pointed to missile and drone strikes as a key factor.
uncertain
which → see → factor
The Conflict Intelligence Team, an independent open-source investigation group, said 327 civilians were killed in Russia in the first seven months of 2026, compared with 145 in the same period last year.
asserted
civilians → say → period
The RM48U - RM for "raketa mishen" or "missile target" - flies on a ballistic trajectory at high speeds, Ukraine's prosecutor's office and the country's GUR military intelligence agency told Reuters.
asserted
office → fly → Reuters
But it is less powerful and accurate than the Iskander, Russia's primary short-range ballistic missile, the prosecutor's office said.
asserted
office → say → Iskander
The Ukrainian missiles data shows this summer was the first confirmed time the munitions, which are fired from Russia's S-400 air-defense systems, have been deployed in large numbers.
asserted
which → show → numbers
The prosecutors linked the RM48U and its lower precision to several strikes that have caused high civilian casualties in the last few months, including the Brovary district railway platform.
asserted
that → link → platform
They said their military experts found that RM48Us deviate from their intended targets by around 300 metres on average and that their exploding warheads can unleash metal fragments over a large area.
asserted
warheads → say → area
Forensic investigators concluded the railway strike was conducted with an RM48U after analyzing the crater near the rail line beside the platform, metal fragments and damage to the platform, trees and bodies, the office said.
asserted
office → conclude → platform
Reuters couldn't independently verify the Ukrainian findings.
asserted
Reuters → verify → findings
Volodymyr Bihun, head of Brovary's military administration, said the rail attack happened shortly after midnight.
asserted
attack → say → midnight
Russia also fired a number of missiles that hit logistics facilities in the district, he said.
asserted
he → fire → district
Overhead imagery obtained from commercial satellite company Planet Labs showed that a warehouse complex near the Kvitnevyi railway platform had been damaged.
asserted
complex → obtain → platform
Two plumes of smoke could be seen rising into the air.
uncertain
plumes → see → air
In July, Russia fired the largest number of ballistic and hypersonic missiles in a single month since its 2022 full-scale invasion, according to the official Ukrainian data, which only includes strikes confirmed by on-the-ground analysis.
uncertain
which → fire → analysis
Of those 158 strikes, 87 were from RM48Us, the data showed.
asserted
data → show → RM48Us
The pace of the aerial assault has only intensified; there were 70 Russian ballistic and hypersonic strikes in the first eight days of August, the Ukrainian data showed, with 36 of them from RM48Us.
asserted
data → intensify → RM48Us
Last month, the Ukrainian air force stopped publishing regular readouts of the number of missiles fired and shot down during enemy attacks.
asserted
force → stop → attacks
It said the decision was taken to prevent Russia parading reports about the poor performance of Ukrainian air defenses for propaganda purposes.
asserted
Russia → say → purposes
RUSSIA STRIVES TO OVERWHELM DEPLETED DEFENSES
Russia has a stockpile of about 100 Iskanders available, compared with 400 RM48Us, the US-based Institute for the Study of War estimated last month.
asserted
Institute → strive → War
According to Ukraine's GUR, the country also has smaller stocks of KN-23 and KN-24 ballistic missiles and Zircon and Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, which can travel faster than five times the speed of sound.
uncertain
which → accord → sound
RUSI's Kaushal put Russia's Iskander production at around 750 missiles a year.
asserted
Kaushal → put → missiles
The solid rocket motors are a limiting factor, pushing Moscow to use the weapons judiciously, he said.
asserted
he → limit → weapons
…and 7 more, not listed.
The Aporia
