British intelligence identifies Russian type of missile that fatally struck Dnipro house

Russia has resumed strikes using long-range missiles against Ukrainian infrastructure after a break of approximately 15 days, launching tens of missiles.

Caliber.Az reports on this, referring to the British Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine which has noted this development.

The latest intelligence report, published by the UK Defence Ministry on January 17, states that Russia primarily targeted the Ukrainian electricity grid, as it did with the previous eight waves of strikes since 11 October 2022.

"An AS-4 KITCHEN large anti-ship missile, launched from a Tu-22M3 BACKFIRE medium bomber, highly likely struck a block of flats in Dnipro city which resulted in the death of at least 40 people", the intelligence update recalls.

It further pointed out that Russia falsely implied a Ukrainian air defence missile was responsible. The British defence ministry stated, that the KITCHEN is notoriously inaccurate when used against ground targets as its radar guidance system is poor at differentiating targets in urban areas.

The update continues recalling, that similar weapons have been responsible for other incidents of civilian mass-casualties, including the Kremenchuk shopping centre strike of 27 June 2022.

"While some missiles such as KITCHEN are unsuitable for precision strike, evidence from the Ukraine war suggests that dysfunction of Russia’s long-range strike capability is more profound", the intelligence agency wrote, suggesting that it was highly likely struggles to dynamically identify targets, and to access rapid and accurate battle damage assessment are present in the Russian army.

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 17 January 2023

Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/cJMPkLSUgH

🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/cOHXJS6j6E

— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) January 17, 2023