Russia deploys a mystery decoy munition on Kharkiv

KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO – SATURDAY, 18 JUNE 2022, 16:39

On Saturday afternoon, Russian forces once again attacked the city of Kharkiv. According to preliminary information, the city’s industrial areas were hit.

Source: Suspilne; State Emergency Service (SES) of Ukraine in Kharkiv Oblast on Facebook

Details: According to Suspilne, an explosion was heard around 13:00. The air raid siren was sounded in the city of Kharkiv.

According to preliminary information, a Russian missile hit the Industrialnyi [Industrial - ed.] neighbourhood of Kharkiv. Explosives technicians from SES found fragments of a decoy designed to fool heat-seeking missiles.

"We found a decoy marked 9P899 released by an Iskander ballistic missile. It contains a heat source to attract incoming missiles launched by [Ukrainian - ed.] air defence systems. The missiles launched by the air defence then fail to intercept the actual missile, instead targeting these decoys," Anton Pedchenko, the senior sapper of the [SES - ed.] explosives team, said.

Passersby in Kharkiv were the first to spot the decoy where it collided with the asphalt; they mistook it for an unexploded ordnance.

"It’s not that explosive, but its burning temperature is high enough for someone nearby to get severe burns," Pedchenko said.

The Main Directorate of the SES in Kharkiv Oblast reported that on 18 June SES sappers found fragments of explosive objects at the site of the latest Russian attack on residential buildings in the Industrialnyi neighbourhood of Kharkiv.

According to preliminary information, no one was killed or injured, the SES reported.