Units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in coordination with the Security Service of Ukraine, executed a missile strike against the Russian Iskander missile system in the Bryansk region.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine published the video footage and detailed information on the operation.

According to the report, the missile launcher belonging to the 26th Rocket Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces was detected near the city of Klintsy in the Bryansk region while preparing to launch an attack on a Ukrainian settlement, likely Kyiv.

The targets were successfully neutralized thanks to effective intelligence and the coordinated efforts of the Armed Forces and the Security Service of Ukraine. One Russian missile launcher detonated, and two others were likely damaged.

The General Staff is currently verifying the results of the strikes on the targets. However, it can already be confirmed that one of the launchers experienced a munitions detonation, as evidenced by the characteristic burning of missile fuel.

If confirmed, this would represent the first documented instance of a Russian operational-tactical missile system being successfully hit since the onset of the full-scale invasion in 2022.

It is important to note that, despite the confirmed strike, the launchers themselves cannot be definitively identified in the publicly released footage. Furthermore, these systems can be easily mistaken for the KN-23 missile system of North Korean manufacture.

Russian forces actively use the KN-23 systems to strike Ukrainian cities. As of the end of 2024, KN-23 missiles accounted for one-third of all ballistic missile launches against Ukraine.

The destruction of enemy operational-tactical missile systems is a highly challenging objective, as the crews of mobile complexes constantly change launch positions and are based at significant distances from the front line, often in border regions or even in areas not adjacent to the Ukrainian border.

The launch range of ballistic and cruise missiles—up to 500 kilometers in most cases—allows enemy crews to conduct launches from considerable distances. On this occasion, launches from border areas may have been dictated by the task of striking targets deep within Ukrainian territory.

In April, Militarnyi reported that Ukrainian strike drones attacked the base of the Russian 112th Missile Brigade, which is equipped with Iskander ballistic missiles. According to open sources, the brigade is stationed in the Yuzhny Gorodok district of Shuya, Ivanovo region. However, objective monitoring at that time did not allow for detecting damaged systems.

On May 9, one of the developers of this missile system, 74-year-old design engineer Vladimir Nedoshivin, was killed in the city of Kolomna, Moscow region.