Expert comments on Iskander missile strike on Cabinet building
People watch smoke rising above the Cabinet of Ministers building after the Russian attack on Kyiv on September 7, 2025. (Photo: REUTERS/Serhii Korovainyi)
Ukrainian war veteran and retired Major Oleksiy Hetman discussed the Iskander-K missile strike on the Cabinet of Ministers building during an appearance on Radio NV on Sept. 9, highlighting apparent contradictions in the information surrounding the missile.
Oleksiy Hetman
This seems like a warning to our government: "See, we can reach not only administrative buildings but also state enterprises." There's a lot of talk about how the Pechersk Hills are the most protected area. But when a missile is heading toward Kyiv, it covers the distance in just a few minutes—for instance, from Brovary to Kyiv. And when it's flying into Kyiv, it doesn't have its destination written on it, specifying which district of Kyiv it's targeting. We destroy every missile we can.
Why wasn't this missile destroyed? That's a question for air defense. Why didn't it explode? There are many questions here.
First off, there's information that it was a cluster munition. That means it carried submunitions, and even if it had detonated, it wouldn't have been a high-explosive warhead with a massive blast—the submunitions would just scatter. Though with the Russians, they detonate about 50-50. So 50% might go off, and the other 50% would just lie there. They'd have to be collected very carefully afterward.
There's conflicting information circulating. On one hand, the missile didn't explode and didn't damage the building, according to some reports. But we don't know for sure yet what happened. Maybe we don't need to know. Let it stay shrouded in the fog of war for now. On the other hand, if it scattered... it wasn't supposed to explode anyway, since there was no high-explosive component. Cluster munitions don't cause major structural damage. They target personnel when the submunitions disperse.
A missile can detonate from impact or proximity, but they also have radio fuzes. It can be remotely detonated, even before it reaches the target. That's how some missiles are triggered—not on ground impact, but at a certain distance above the ground to cover a wider area. Especially with cluster munitions.
So there are still a lot of questions about this missile and this strike. Not because we can't say exactly what happened... We just lack information, so we're speaking approximately. A cluster munition and an undetonated missile—that's contradictory information. Because if it was a high-explosive warhead, then yes, it didn't go off. But right away, there was information that it was a cluster munition, so it wasn't supposed to detonate.
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