The Russian Kh-101 cruise missile that hit a residential building in Kyiv during the night of 14 May was manufactured in the second quarter of 2026. It means Russia produced it within the past three months, despite international sanctions, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
Components, equipment, and critical materials for cruise missile production are still reaching Russia in 2026, despite 21 EU sanctions packages and three years of Western export controls.
Zelenskyy called on Ukraine's partners to make closing sanctions-evasion schemes a priority, describing the gaps as one of the central reasons Russia's military-industrial complex continues producing weapons that strike Ukrainian cities.
What hit Kyiv?
At least 12 people were killed, and 57 were injured in the 13–14 May strike on Kyiv, according to the State Emergency Service, the largest two-day aerial attack on Ukraine since the start of the war. Russia fired more than 1,560 drones and 56 missiles since the start of 13 May, Zelenskyy said. Air raid alarms sounded for about 11 hours.
An apartment building in Kyiv's Darnytskyi district was flattened. Two girls were among the dead. The mayor of Kyiv declared a day of mourning.
The strike came on the day US President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing for his first visit to China in nine years.
Missile built under sanctions
"Production — second quarter of this year. It means that components for missile production, the necessary resources and equipment, Russia is still bringing in bypassing global sanctions," Zelenskyy said.
The Russian military-industrial complex still has access to critically important components and technologies, the president said, despite sanctions pressure. Ukraine is preparing new steps to push for stronger international enforcement against sanctions-evasion schemes.
"Sanctions must be more painful for Russia," Zelenskyy stressed.
Pattern: same missile, same target type
The Kh-101 strike on a Kyiv apartment building was not the first of such a terrible scale.
On 19 November 2025, a Kh-101 missile hit an apartment building in Ternopil, killing 33 residents. In July 2024, six Kh-101 missiles struck the Artem military plant in Kyiv during the same attack that hit the Okhmatdyt children's hospital.
According to classified Russian procurement documents reported in October 2025, Russia ordered 525 Kh-101 missiles for 2024, 700 for 2025, and 30 for delivery in 2026. Zelenskyy's 14 May address confirms that production has continued, and that it is reaching Russian launch units within weeks of being built.
Components that Russia depends on
Two days before the strike, Ukraine's Defense Ministry documented that Russia had modernized its Kh-101 cruise missile at least four times since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. It is an attempt to improve strike effectiveness and overcome Ukraine’s air defense systems.
Russia sacrificed fuel capacity on its Kh-101 to pack heavier warhead and added incendiary steel balls with zirconium
The basic version of the Kh-101 had a range of about 2,500 km and a warhead of up to 500 kg, launched from strategic bombers Tu-95MS and Tu-160.
The ministry explains that Russian forces realized a significant number of missiles were being intercepted en route, so they decided to sacrifice part of the fuel tank in favor of a more powerful warhead.
This led to a modernized Kh-101 with a tandem warhead weighing approximately 800 kg.
