Wednesday, September 10, 2025

Ukraine says Russian missile that hit government building is packed with US and European parts

Ivana Kottasová, Daria Tarasova-Markin, Victoria Butenko, 
CNN
Tue, September 9, 2025 


Components found in the Russian Iskander missile that hit a government building in Kyiv on Sunday. - Defense Intelligence of Ukraine

A Russian cruise missile that hit a government building in central Kyiv on Sunday was filled with dozens of foreign parts, including chips and other electronic components made in the United States, Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday.

The Iskander 9M727 missile that struck the building did not explode, most likely because it was damaged by Ukrainian air defenses, Vladyslav Vlasiuk, Ukraine’s presidential commissioner for sanctions policy, said on Tuesday.

Vlasiuk released photographs of the damaged missile, as well as a list of components that have been previously found in identical missiles.

The list includes 35 parts manufactured by American companies, including Texas Instruments, Analog Devices, Altera and others, as well as components made by Japanese, British and Swiss companies.

Serial numbers show that some of these parts were manufactured years ago, but some are listed as having been made recently, including after the start of Russia’s unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Many Western countries, including the four named in the list published by Vlasiuk, have imposed strict sanctions and export controls on such components to stop them from being used by Russia.

But Moscow has found ways to evade these.


A Ukrainian government building was damaged on Sunday during a Russian aerial assault on the city. - Alina Smutko/Reuters

CNN has reached out to the companies listed by Vlasiuk for comment.

Infineon Technologies, the German company that now owns American-based Cypress Semiconductor – one of the manufacturers listed – told CNN that it has taken “extensive measures” to ensure its items don’t end up in Russia.

A spokesperson for the company said Infineon Technologies has stopped all direct and indirect shipments to Russia and that it has tools in place to ensure compliance among its customers.

“(If) we get tangible evidence that companies with which we have a business relationship are doing trade with Russia, we terminate the delivery and demand clarification from the company in question,” the spokesperson said.

However the company produces around 30 billion chips every year, which the spokesperson said makes it “difficult to control sales throughout the entire lifetime of a product.

Other companies listed by Vlasiuk did not respond to CNN’s questions.

Texas Instruments has previously said that it stopped selling products into Russia and Belarus in February 2022 and that any shipments of its chips into Russia are illicit and unauthorized.

Vlasiuk said that even though this particular missile still included dozens of Western-made parts, it contained fewer such components compared to missiles analyzed earlier in the war.

“There are fewer components from Europe and the US, and more from Russia and Belarus,” he said, adding that the Ukrainian government had informed its allies about the parts discovered “for sanctions response.”


Debris of a missile that hit central Kyiv on Sunday. - Defense Intelligence of Ukraine

Most of the foreign parts found in the missile are so-called dual use components, meaning they were originally designed for civilian use, but can also be used for military purposes.

These include American chips made to be used in household electronics, smart devices or gaming gadgets, repurposed for in Russian guided bombs, missiles and drones.

Despite efforts by US firms to prevent Moscow from using their products, an inquiry by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations found last year that US-made components “continue to guide and power the Russian weapons that kill Ukrainians daily.”

The subcommittee said companies based in other countries, including China, Kazakhstan and others, have been able to purchase these parts and then sell them to Russia.

CNN.com




A Russian Iskander missile struck Ukraine's Cabinet building, but photos indicate its warhead failed to detonate

Matthew Loh
Tue, September 9, 2025


Russia struck Ukraine's Cabinet building with an Iskander-launched cruise missile on Sunday.

But photos showed its remnants in a structurally intact room, indicating it didn't do its job.

Ukraine says it was one of nine cruise missiles launched amid Russia's latest massive drone wave.

Russia struck Ukraine's Cabinet headquarters with a cruise missile on Sunday, but photos show that while the weapon crashed into the building, its warhead likely failed to detonate.

Ukrainian officials said that an Iskander-launched cruise missile had hit the government building during Russia's latest wave of drone and missiles, its largest since the war began.

New photos of the site show what appears to be the remains of the missile in a battered but structurally intact room, indicating that its warhead didn't trigger.

While it's unclear what payload the missile was carrying, the incident could signal a reliability issue with one of Russia's advanced precision weapons. However, such failures can happen with missiles in wartime.

Katarina Mathernova, the European Union's ambassador to Ukraine, posted the images to social media on Monday after visiting the building.

One of the photos captured a large, round piece of wrecked metal with turbine blades, closely resembling a turbojet or turbofan engine used by Russia's cruise missiles.

Another piece of the debris was labeled in Cyrillic as "Filter FT-1," a reported component of the TRDD-50 engine that's known to power the Russian Iskander-K missile.


The photo posted by Mathernova shows the apparent remains of an Iskander-K cruise missile.Facebook/Katarina Mathernova

The photos also showed a breached wall in the Cabinet building where the missile likely entered, along with the charred remains of parts of the headquarters.

The internal damage likely stemmed from a fire that Ukrainian authorities said broke out after the missile hit the building. Local media reported that the missile's fuel tanks started the blaze.

Mathernova's photo appears to show the point where the Russian missile breached the building.Facebook/Katarina Mathernova

But, apart from its scorched interior, the Cabinet building remained mostly structurally intact. Ground-launched Iskander-K missiles generally carry warheads with a mass of 450 to 500 kg, or 990 to 1,100 pounds.

"Only thanks to the missile failing to fully detonate, the entire building was not reduced to rubble," Mathernova wrote. "And thanks to the rapid action of Ukraine's amazing rescue services — true heroes — the fire was contained to the three floors, before it would swallow the rest of the building."

European and Ukrainian officials have condemned the missile strike on the Cabinet building as a sign that Russia continues to act in bad faith despite courting ceasefire talks with the US. The Iskander-K's missile variants, the 9M728 and the newer 9M729, are precision-guided munitions.

"The evidence of this existential battle is right in front of us: Putin is deliberately targeting the country's lifelines — its government, its energy, its people," Mathernova wrote.

Andriy Yermak, chief of staff for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on Monday that he had spoken to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio about the strike.

"These strikes kill civilians, including children, and destroy our infrastructure," Yermak wrote in a post on X. "For the first time, the enemy attacked the building of the Government of Ukraine — Iskander missile strike."

Ukraine's air command said the Iskander-K missile was one of nine cruise missiles launched by Russia on Sunday, as part of a massive wave of long-range exploding drones and decoys. Kyiv said its air force detected at least 810 drones that night.

Russia has regularly attacked Ukrainian cities with its Iskander launchers, and is often accused of using them to target infrastructure and civilian areas.

In August 2023, one of its most high-profile strikes with the launcher involved a hit with an Iskander-M ballistic missile that killed seven people at a landmark drama theater in the city of Chernihiv.




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