Russia may have used RM-48U "zombie missiles" for first time to strike Ukraine

During the nighttime shelling of Ukraine on January 20, russian troops may have used for the first time the RM-48U missiles, which were originally intended for training purposes and to simulate air threats during air defense training.

It was reported by the Telegraph.

The article notes that the RM-48U is a converted version of the 5V55 or 48N6 missiles, which were previously used as part of the S-300 and S-400 systems, but were later written off due to the end of their service life. These missiles are used as air targets for training air defense systems. This is why the Telegraph calls the RM-48U a "zombie missile."

It is noted that the basic 5V55 and 48N6 missiles are capable of carrying a payload weighing 133 to 180 kilograms. At the same time, since they were not designed to hit ground targets, their modified versions are likely to have limited accuracy in such attacks.

Nevertheless, the use of the RM-48U allows to increase the intensity of attacks on Ukrainian cities and forces Ukraine to spend expensive air defense systems to intercept them. According to the publication, during the attack, one of these missiles was able to overcome the Ukrainian air defense system, but it is not yet known whether it was equipped with a warhead or was used solely as a decoy.

As a reminder, due to the russian shelling on the night of January 20, there were interruptions in electricity and water supply on the left bank of Kyiv. There is a casualty in the Dniprovskyi District of the capital, where non-residential buildings were hit and a UAV fell down.

On the night of January 20, the russians attacked Ukraine with a significant number of ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as launched more than 300 drones. The Air Defense Forces practiced on a significant number of targets.