Russia has made two significant modifications to its Kalibr cruise missiles since the start of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine's Ministry of Defense reported.

The cluster payload mirrors the one Russia already uses on its Kh-101 cruise missiles, expanding the lethal radius across dispersed targets like airfields, hangars, and open positions. Russia is not a signatory to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which 124 states have ratified.

From 2022 through early 2026, Kalibr missiles carried a fragmentation-high-explosive warhead. Researchers documented a cluster warhead for the first time on missiles shot down in spring 2026. Russia made the change to substantially increase the strike area and deploy the missile against dispersed targets, the ministry said.

Russia's failed attempt to replace imported electronics

The second modification concerns the missiles' onboard electronics. Between 2023 and 2024, Russia gradually shifted Kalibr production to domestic components. The attempt failed. Analysis of the onboard digital computing unit from a Kalibr manufactured in 2025 again found imported components. The homing boards are "more than 80–90% foreign-made," the ministry stated, calling it "a confirmed fact, not an estimate" — each part is marked and verified by military representatives.

The shift to domestic electronics likely degraded guidance accuracy, the MoD suggested, prompting the return to foreign parts despite sanctions exposure. A Russian Kh-101 that killed 12 people in Kyiv this May was built in the second quarter of 2026 — pointing to components still reaching Russia after 21 EU sanctions packages and years of Western export controls, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last month.

Manufacturers and designers identified for sanctions

The ministry said it had identified all electronics manufacturers supplying Kalibr production, as well as the chief designers and managers involved. "The Ministry of Defense has established all electronics manufacturers for the Kalibrs, as well as the chief designers and managers involved in missile production. This data is being transferred for further processing within the framework of sanctions policy," the ministry stated.

The MoD has previously published technical analyses of downed Russian Kh-101 missiles and North Korean KN-23 and KN-24 ballistic missiles used against Ukraine.

Russia went back to using imported electronics for their Kalibr cruise missiles’ guidance system after failing to replace them with homemade alternatives, according to Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense. 

The ship-launched missile’s homing boards “are made up of more than 80–90% foreign-made components,” the MoD wrote. “This is a confirmed fact, not an estimate: each part is marked and has been checked by military representatives.”

Starting in 2023, Moscow began to transition to domestic components in manufacturing their Kalibr missiles, which may have worsened their performance. As a result, the Russians went back to what works, the MoD wrote, citing an analysis of Kalibrs that were shot down.

The announcement did not disclose the manufacturers of these systems. However, according to the General Intelligence Directorate’s website that tracks foreign parts in Russian’s weapons, most chips that went into Kalibrs prior to 2024 came from the US. 

Russia has routinely used foreign electronics in the missiles it fires against Ukraine throughout the course of the war. 

A Russian Kh-101 cruise missile that killed 12 people in Kyiv in May was built in the second quarter of 2026, which points to components continuing to reach Russia despite 21 sanctions packages from the EU and years of Western export controls, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last month.

Cluster munitions added

Russia has also started using cluster munitions for the Kalibrs' payloads—the first such use was recorded in the Spring of 2026, according to the announcement. Previously, Kalibrs tended to be armed with high explosive fragmentation loads.  

Cluster payloads can widen the destructive radius and allow the missiles to more effectively hit spread-out targets. The MoD described them as analogous to the cluster munitions found on Kh-101 missiles. 

The use of weapons that cover an area with bomblets is controversial around the world because of the lingering danger they pose to civilians. A total of 124 countries have ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions, outright banning the use of such weapons, though Ukraine and Russia are not signatories. 

Moscow’s army has repeatedly used cluster munitions, including against cities, since the opening days of the full-scale invasion.