Russia has increased its use of air defense missiles in a secondary ground attack mode because of critical shortages of dedicated ground-attack missiles, the British military intelligence said on Friday.
Russia has almost certainly deployed S-300 and S-400 strategic air defense systems, designed to shoot down aircraft and missiles at long ranges, near Ukraine from the start of the invasion, the Ministry of Defense said in an intelligence update.
The weapons, which have relatively small warheads are designed to destroy aircraft, it said, adding that they could pose a significant threat against troops in the open and light buildings but are unlikely to penetrate hardened structures.
There is a high chance of these weapons missing their intended targets and causing civilian casualties because the missiles are not optimized for this role and their crews will have little training for such missions, the Defense ministry said.