Flashback to when Russia used a Soviet-era missile to attack Ukraine

Some of Russia's moves in the battle against Ukraine put in to question how ammunition supplies are faring for Putin. Back in January of 2024, reports came in the Russia had fired a Soviet-era supersonic anti-ship missile at Ukraine during a missile barrage. Photos of the missile made their way online and caused a flurry of speculation among analysts.

Defense Express was one of the first media organizations to report on the photos of a downed missile circulating social media that appeared to show what looked like a very old four-ton Soviet supersonic anti-ship missile. 

Photo Credit: Twitter @front_ukrainian

Analysis of markings on the missile led Defense Express to determine the weapon was a P-35 supersonic anti-ship missile. This type of missile was developed in the 1950s under the Soviet Union and first entered military service back in 1962. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Vadim Indeikin, CC BY-SA 3.0

The 10-meter or roughly 32-foot length of the anti-ship missile made it an easy mark to identify according to Defense Express. But the situation was not as clear cut as it appeared due to how the missile had been identified. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Vitaly V. Kuzmin

A journalist at The Warzone pointed out that several online outlets had identified the downed missile as the P-35, P-35B, or 3M44, and explained that all of those missiles were related and looked superficially similar. 

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However, all of the identifications attributed to the downed missile in Ukraine were used to arm coastal defense systems and are collectively referred to by their NATO codename in Western nations—the SSC-1B Sepal.

The Warzone pointed out that the downed missile seen in the images that circulated social media of the missile’s wreckage site suggested it was likely a 3M44, though the outlet added it could have also been the older P-35B version of the missile. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By karel291, CC BY 3.0

The Soviet Union’s P-35B was an anti-ship missile fielded in the 1960s and was used for coastal defense. It reportedly had a range of roughly 270 kilometers or 168 miles and was powered by a turbojet engine. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Service Depicted: Other Service - ID: DN-SN-86-00746, Public Domain

Weighing in at an impressive 4.6 tons, the P-35B was superseded by the 3M44 missile in the 1980s. The 3M44 was a far more impressive weapon and had an effective range of roughly 460 kilometers or 286 miles. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Thomas Taylor Hammond (1920-1993) - University of Virginia Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, CC BY-SA 4.0

The 3M44 had the option to carry a nuclear warhead instead of its conventional 2,000-pound warhead according to The Warzone, which again argued that it was this missile that Russia fired against Ukraine in January 2024. 

Regardless of which missile Moscow fired, it wasn’t used as it was intended since the missile was almost certainly fired at a land target according to The Warzone, which noted that Ukraine didn't operate any large ships in its navy at that time. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By U.S. Navy / MC2 William Jamieson - Ships conduct Exercise Sea Breeze 2012, Public Domain

Defense Express reported that the images of the downed missile showed it was most likely shot down by Ukrainian air defenses, though The Warzone pointed out reports on how the missile was taken out were unconfirmed. 

Photo Credit: Twitter @front_ukrainian

However, the pile of metal seen in the images circulating online displayed the characteristic wings of the P-35, which Defense Express noted was a weapon still in use by the Russian Armed Forces. 

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“Nowadays, the standard carrier and launch system is the Redut coastal defense complex. There were eight Redut systems in Russian military service as of 2021 estimations,” Defense Express wrote. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Vitaly V. Kuzmin

The Ukrainian defense news website also pointed out that Russia operated one of “the traditional coastal defense launch systems in occupied Crimea. Known as “Utyos, Object 100, or Sotka,” the system is connected to an underground facility in Balaklava.

Photo Credit: Screenshot Wiki Commons By Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation

Several outlets noted that the incident in January was the first time an older anti-ship missile had been used in the conflict in Ukraine, a fact Defense Express said indicated Russia was “no longer picky in terms of weapons of strikes and disregard potential collateral damage.”