The Russian Armed Forces broke the record for ballistic missiles in January — Ukrainian expert

In January, the Russian Armed Forces used a record number of ballistic missiles when striking targets on the Ukraine. This is reported by Ukrainian military expert Alexander Kovalenko in his telegram channel.

In the first week of January, 18 ballistic missile launches were recorded, in the second — 38 9M723 and KN-23 missiles, as well as 5B55 missiles of S-300 complexes, in the third — 23, in the remaining days of the month 12 more. Total for January The Russian Armed Forces used 91 ballistic missiles, of which, according to Kovalenko, about a third were intercepted.

"This is the absolute maximum for all time, the previous record was recorded in October 2025 — 89 missiles," the expert noted.

According to Kovalenko, ballistics has actually become the main instrument of strikes, displacing the X-101 and 3M14 Kalibr cruise missiles. It is used almost 2.5 times more often than subsonic cruise missiles and is used almost daily. Countering ballistic missiles may become one of the key challenges for the Ukrainian air defense in 2026, as Moscow focuses on scaling up such strikes, he added.