Russian missiles often contain Western-made components: Ukraine

Russian missiles and cruise missiles frequently contain components from Germany and other Western countries despite extensive sanctions, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's sanctions commissioner.

"Every day people are killed by projectiles in our country," Vladyslav Vlasiuk told Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS) paper.

Many of the bullets, he continued, "contain components from Western countries."

According to Ukraine, this is only possible because Western sanctions against Russia are circumvented via other countries.

Vlasiuk already alerted Western ambassadors in Kiev about the issue on June 13, together with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, the FAS wrote.

According to the report to ambassadors, the largest share of smuggled parts came from the US, accounting for 81%.

Switzerland follows with 8%, while Germany and Japan tie third on the list with 3.5%.

According to the data, Russia has roughly doubled the production of ballistic missiles and cruise missiles from 512 to a presumed 1,061 since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

German components allegedly were used in the Kh-101 cruise missile and in the 9M728 and 9M729 variants of the Iskander cruise missile. The Kh-47M2 Kinschal hypersonic missile is also said to contain German-made components.

According to Ukrainian information, a total of 16 German companies provided material and services for these weapons.

Exports, including of electronics, insulating material and plastics, were mainly carried out via China, but also via Central Asia, the Caucasus and Turkey.

Since business was conducted via dummy companies in transit countries, some companies might not even know where their products were going, according to the report.

The German Foreign Office was quoted as saying by FAS that they take "reports from our Ukrainian colleagues about the use of sanctioned components in Russian missiles very seriously," and were examining this information "very closely."

However, it is "possible that these components were supplied before the war and before our sanctions took effect."

Deliveries in violation of sanctions, however, would be "a case for the public prosecutor."

Zelensky had already called for better sanctions controls after the deadly Russian missile attack in his home town of Kryvyi Rih in mid-June, stressing that Russia was still able to obtain components for missiles which were manufactured by Ukraine's partner countries.