Types of weapons Russia used in the attack on Ukraine

According toRussian Ministry of DefenseIn addition to airstrikes and missile attacks, some Russian ground forces have entered Ukraine from the direction of Crimea. Below is a list of weapons that Russia is using to attack Ukraine.

Tanks and armored vehicles

Russian tanks and armored vehicles appeared to have faced fierce resistance. In the northeastern Ukrainian town of Glukhov, near the Russian border, a column of T-72 tanks was destroyed by a Javenlin missile supplied by the United States, a Ukrainian government statement said. Ukrainian officials did not provide further evidence of what happened. Some videos showed the turret blown off.

Many videos and photos taken from inside Ukraine show that many Russian military vehicles are painted with a white letter Z on their bodies to distinguish them, to avoid accidental shootings because Ukrainian tanks from the Soviet era are easily confused with Russian tanks. Avoiding confusion is the most speculated thing because Z is not a letter in the Russian Cyrillic alphabet.

Plane

As it encircles Ukraine in recent days, the Russian military has put into service a series of aircraft capable of launching air-to-ground missiles, or dropping cluster bombs or fragmentation bombs.

A senior US Defense Department official said on February 24 that the US's initial assessment showed that Russia had deployed about 75 fixed-wing bombers to carry out the first series of airstrikes across Ukraine, mainly to weaken Ukraine's air defense system, destroy ammunition depots and airports.

The Ukrainian military said nearly 20 attack and transport helicopters attacked Hostomel airport outside the capital Kiev. Videos shared on social media also showed at least 20 helicopters, including Mi-8 and Ka-52, attacking an airport near Kiev.

Ukraine said Russian forces targeted mainly key infrastructure, including a thermal power plant near Kiev.

Heavy artillery and missiles

Observers say artillery is one of the key forces of the Russian military. Moscow is likely to have used weapons it has deployed around the Ukrainian border, including short-range ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and high-powered artillery to shoot down targets.

So far, Russia has used mainly short- and medium-range ballistic missiles, a US defense official said. Russia also appears to have used cruise missiles, surface-to-air missiles and sea-launched missiles, the official said.

According to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Russia launched the first attack with 30 3M14 Kalibr land-attack cruise missiles. This is the type of weapon Moscow used in the military campaign in Syria and it has now become one of the most important weapons in the Russian military's arsenal. Russia's domestic 3M14 model has a range of 2,500 km and can carry a warhead weighing more than 400 kg, enough to hit any target in Ukraine if launched from the Black Sea.

Next up is the Kh-31P, a hypersonic anti-radiation missile. It is unclear whether Russia has previously used this missile in combat, but some sources say the Kh-31P was used in the early stages of the invasion of Ukraine, capable of eliminating radar sites. Many videos and images on social media show the remains of this missile in Kiev.

The Kh-31P missile was originally designed to counter Western air defense systems, including the Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC) ballistic missile defense system, or Patriot for short. This missile is used for Su-24, Su-34 attack aircraft as well as advanced variants of the Flanker family of aircraft, including the Su-30SM and Su-35S. The first generation Kh-31P version has a maximum range of 112 km, and a speed of up to Mach 3.5 thanks to its turbofan engine. The more modern Kh-31PM version, which has been in use since 2012, has a maximum range of about 241 km.

Iskander-M missiles were also likely used in the attack. The Russian military’s 9K720 Iskander-M short-range ballistic missile, known in the West as the SS-26 Stone, is among the weapons systems that Russia has deployed around Ukraine in recent weeks. The missile has a range of nearly 500km and can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads. It is effective at destroying fixed enemy military structures.

Evidence from the latest fighting also suggests that Russia has used the Tochka missile, equipped with a 9N123K warhead. The Tochka, developed during the Cold War, is a mobile short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) designed to be deployed on the battlefield to replace the FROG battlefield rocket. It can carry a variety of warheads weighing around 500 kg. The missile has a range of around 121 km.