For the first time in a long while, Russia struck Kyiv with Kh-22 missiles—munitions typically designed to target aircraft carrier groups.
During the attack on Kyiv, Russian forces employed an unusual tactic, launching twelve heavy Kh-22/Kh-32 anti-ship missiles from Tu-22M3 bombers, Col. Yurii Ihnat, chief of communications for Ukraine’s Air Force Command, told Kyiv 24.
To do so, Russia redeployed missile carriers from the Far East to airfields closer to Ukraine’s borders.
The Kh-22 missiles, armed with 950-kilogram warheads, flew on a ballistic trajectory at supersonic speed, making them especially dangerous. Even so, Ukrainian air defenses shot down nine of the twelve—a truly unprecedented result, Ihnat said. Since 2022, Russia has fired more than 400 Kh-22s and upgraded Kh-32s at Ukraine, with air defenses previously destroying only three of these missiles in total.
Ihnat said the ability to down nine such targets at once was made possible by Western-supplied air defense systems capable of engaging ballistic trajectories.
He stressed that the Kh-22 is among the biggest threats to civilian sites and critical infrastructure because its mass and speed cause extensive destruction on impact.
Recently, Russia had used fewer of these missiles against mainland Ukraine, focusing them more on the south, Ihnat noted. Firing so many at Kyiv at once is atypical and could indicate an attempt to saturate the capital’s air-defense “umbrella” with high-yield warheads.
Overnight on January 24, Russia used 396 different aerial attack assets against Ukraine, the Air Force reported.
Among them:
- 2 Zircon 3M22 anti-ship missiles,
- 12 Kh-22/Kh-32 cruise missiles,
- 6 Iskander-M/S-300 ballistic missiles,
- 1 Kh-59/69 guided air-launched missile,
- 375 attack UAVs.
Shoot-down statistics. Photo: Ukrainian Air Force.
Ukrainian forces shot down or suppressed 15 missiles and 357 enemy drones.
Russia using missiles manufactured in 2026, Ukrainian official says
Vladyslav Vlasiuk, the Ukrainian President’s envoy on sanctions policy, said Russia has begun using newly produced missiles - manufactured in 2026 - for strikes on Ukraine.
For example, Kh-101s are standard cruise missiles but of 2026 manufacture. Kh-32s are also new missiles built on the Kh-22 platform, and RM-48U are S-400-based ballistic missiles derived from training target rockets.
Vlasiuk argued that each use of a particular missile type is not random but has explanations—some of them “not from a good life”—pointing to photos of 2026 Kh-101 debris.
As a reminder, during the night of January 24, Russia conducted a massive, combined attack on Kyiv with Shahed drones and ballistic missiles.
A female employee of the Roshen confectionery factory was killed while working in the shop floor. Three other people were also reported injured.
