Пуск из комплекса "Искандер". Иллюстративное фото wikimedia.org
Upgrades to Russian ballistic missiles have enabled them to change direction in flight and strike targets with high precision, effectively splitting Ukraine in two, The Telegraph reports. Russian forces have equipped their Iskander missiles with optical and radar seekers that allow the weapons to adjust their trajectories in the final moments of their descent towards a target.
According to Ukrainian presidential adviser Serhii Beskrestnov, these seekers, which have meter-level accuracy, were used in recent strikes on bridges in Kyiv. The attacks disrupted transport links between the city’s left and right banks and, according to Ukrainian officials, are part of Russia’s escalating efforts to split Ukraine in two.
Earlier this week, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia was trying to divide Ukraine along the Dnipro River and make life as difficult as possible for its people.
A Ukrainian official told the Financial Times that Moscow’s plan also involves disrupting the distribution of electricity from west to east, potentially leaving millions of people without power.
The Dnipro runs through central Kyiv before flowing south, serving as one of Ukraine’s most important waterways and transport corridors, the publication notes. For several weeks, Russia has been attempting to disable eight of the capital’s main bridges using jet-powered drones, seeking to paralyze transport links across the city as much as possible. It then began striking the largest bridges with ballistic missiles, including four missiles that hit the Pivnichnyi Bridge over the course of one night last weekend.
“Optical and radar seekers, which are likely a recent development, scan the terrain with radar seconds before the warhead detonates, allowing the missiles to evade Ukrainian electronic warfare systems,” the article says.