Photo: RIA Novosti
Russia’s overnight attack against Ukraine on the night of Oct. 15-16 involved the largest single use of Iskander-M / KN-23 ballistic missiles recorded in 2025, data from Ukraine’s Air Force confirm. None of the 26 Iskander-M missiles were intercepted. Previously, the maximum number of Iskander-M missiles used in a single strike was 14 (recorded on both May 24 and Oct. 10, 2025).
On the night of Oct. 15-16, according to Ukraine’s Air Force, Russia carried out a combined strike on energy infrastructure facilities, launching 357 aerial attack assets: 320 strike drones and 37 missiles, 28 of which were ballistic. The main strike targeted Ukraine’s Poltava and Kharkiv regions. In addition to the 26 Iskander-M / KN-23 ballistic missiles — which were launched from sites in Russia’s Kursk and Voronezh regions, along with occupied Crimea — Russia also fired two Kinzhal aeroballistic missiles, two Iskander-K cruise missiles, and seven Kh-59 guided air-launched missiles. According to the Ukrainian military, Kyiv’s air defense forces managed to shoot down or suppress 288 targets, including 283 drones and five Kh-59 missiles. Direct hits were recorded in 14 areas, while debris caused additional damage in two other locations. Another 18 missiles, according to the Air Force, were “radar-lost.”
According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, energy and civilian infrastructure facilities in Vinnytsia, Sumy, and Poltava regions came under attack. In the Chernihiv Region, a post office in Nizhyn was damaged, and one person was injured. In the Kharkiv Region, missiles struck critical infrastructure and a State Emergency Service unit, causing casualties. The president noted that Russia is employing a “double terror” tactic, carrying out repeated strikes on sites where rescuers and energy workers are already operating. These strikes frequently involve drones equipped with cluster munitions.
Earlier this month, The Financial Times reported that Russia had upgraded its Iskander-M and Kinzhal missiles, making them better able to evade Ukrainian air defense systems. According to the newspaper, the missiles perform sharp maneuvers or dives during the final phase of their trajectory, complicating the work of Patriot systems — the only air defense systems in Ukraine’s possession that are capable of intercepting ballistic missiles. FT’s analysis showed that in August, Ukrainian air defenses managed to shoot down 37% of Russian ballistic missiles, while in September that number dropped to just 6%. These findings are supported by a report from the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, which mentions “tactical improvements” in Russian missiles that make them harder to intercept. At the end of September, Zelensky warned that Russia was resuming its campaign of strikes against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
“Radar-lost” is a phrase used in reports by Ukraine’s Air Force to describe Russian long-range drones that were either neutralized by electronic warfare systems or turned out to be decoy drones without warheads, which crashed without causing any damage.
The Kinzhal is a Russian aeroballistic missile — an air-launched adaptation of the Iskander system’s missile (most often from a MiG-31K carrier aircraft). In various sources, the missile is often labeled Kh-47M2, but that index does not actually exist in the Russian Armed Forces’ equipment designation system. Russian propaganda markets it as hypersonic, but it does not meet modern criteria for such weapons. Nevertheless, it remains an extremely difficult target for air defenses.