In January 2026, Russia’s armed forces used a record number of ballistic weapons against Ukraine, according to Ukrainian military analyst Oleksandr Kovalenko. Over the month, Russian forces launched 91 ballistic missiles - the highest monthly total since the start of the full-scale war.
The previous record was set in October 2025, when Russia fired 89 ballistic missiles, Kovalenko noted, citing data compiled by the Information Resistance group.
Weekly breakdown for January:
- First week — 18 ballistic missiles launched; only one was shot down.
- Second week — 38 missiles, including 9M723 from Iskander-M systems and North Korean KN-23s, as well as 5V55 missiles from S-300 systems; 11 were intercepted.
- Third week — 14 of 23 ballistic missiles were destroyed.
- Final week and end of the month — 12 missiles launched; five were shot down.
Overall, Ukraine’s air defenses intercepted only a portion of the ballistic missiles in January, underscoring the difficulty of countering this type of weapon.
Kovalenko said ballistic missiles have effectively become Russia’s primary tool of terror, supplanting the previously frequent use of Kh-101 and 3M14 Kalibr cruise missiles — and that ballistic systems were used in greater numbers than Kh-101s and Kalibrs combined.
For example, Kh-101 missiles were used on the night of January 20 — 15 launches, 13 intercepted by air defenses. Kalibr cruise missiles were used on the night of January 9 — 22 launches, with 10 shot down.
Commenting on the trend, the analyst added that Russia is using ballistic weapons almost 2.5 times more frequently than subsonic cruise missiles, with strikes occurring nearly every day.
“I think countering ballistic threats could become one of the main challenges for Ukraine’s air defenses in 2026, as the enemy is making maximum efforts to scale up strikes with this particular weapon,” Kovalenko wrote on social media.
