FT: Russian cruise missiles used in deadly Kyiv strike contained Western components

Ukrainian authorities have said that Russian cruise missiles used in a deadly attack on Kyiv on May 14 were manufactured this year and contained multiple western-made components, raising renewed questions over the effectiveness of sanctions against Moscow.

The strike, which hit a residential apartment block in the capital, killed at least 24 people, according to Ukrainian authorities, speaking to Financial Times.

Photographs of missile debris from the site appear to show parts of a Kh-101 cruise missile, one of Russia’s most advanced air-launched weapons used in its campaign against Ukraine. The images were reviewed by Ukrainian officials, an independent expert, and the Financial Times.

Ukraine’s top sanctions official, Vladyslav Vlasiuk, said the missiles used in the attack were recently produced.

“Each missile contained more than 100 western-made components,” Vlasiuk wrote on X on May 14.

He told the Financial Times that all Kh-101 cruise missiles recovered and analyzed after the Kyiv strike — including the one that hit the apartment building — had been manufactured in the second quarter of 2026.

An identical Kh-101 missile examined after a previous attack on January 20 reportedly contained microchips from US companies including Texas Instruments, AMD and Kyocera AVX, as well as Germany’s Harting Technology Group, the Netherlands’ Nexperia, and others, according to a document provided to the FT by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office.

Several components recovered from the January debris reportedly carried serial numbers indicating production in 2024 and 2025, despite existing international sanctions imposed on Russia. Ukrainian officials also identified parts produced in China and Taiwan in the recovered wreckage.

By Sabina Mammadli