A Russian missile with a simulated nuclear warhead was shot down over Kyiv

One of the Russian missiles shot down on November 17 over Kyiv turned out to be an X-55 cruise missile from the Russian “nuclear arsenal”. Instead of a warhead, a block imitating a nuclear warhead was “screwed” into this missile, Defense Express reports.

Per the experts of the publication, “Russia usually used missiles of the Kh-555 type for strikes against Ukraine. This rocket is a “non-nuclear” modification of the Kh-55 missile, converted into a conventional warhead with a “classic” explosive. But the X-55 is a Soviet missile that was originally developed specifically as a carrier of nuclear weapons, under the so-called “special warheads” (this is how a nuclear warhead is designated in Soviet and Russian military jargon).

The fact that the Kh-55 missile from the “nuclear arsenal” was launched indicates that Russia’s stockpile of cruise missiles is running at a level critically low for the Kremlin, experts assume.