UK claims;

Russia likely using cruise missiles without nuclear warheads

Russia is likely removing nuclear warheads from aging nuclear cruise missiles and firing unarmed munitions at Ukraine, Britain's military intelligence claimed on Saturday.

Russia likely using cruise missiles without nuclear warheads

MEHR: Russia is likely removing nuclear warheads from aging nuclear cruise missiles and firing unarmed munitions at Ukraine, Britain's military intelligence claimed on Saturday.

The defense ministry said open source imagery shows the wreckage of an air-launched cruise missile fired at Ukraine which seems to have been designed in the 1980s as a nuclear delivery system, adding that ballast was probably being substituted for the warheads, Reuters reported.

Such a system will still produce damage through the missile's kinetic energy and unspent fuel. However, it is unlikely to achieve reliable effects against intended targets, the ministry added in its daily intelligence update posted on Twitter.

"Whatever Russia's intent, this improvisation highlights the level of depletion in Russia's stock of long-range missiles", the ministry claimed.