Yuriy Ignat, Head of the Communications Department of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, commented on the increased radiation background on the fragments of the Russian R-60 missile, which was attached to a Shahed attack drone.
Ignat reported this to News.LIVE.
“There's no need to scare people with some kind of radioactive radiation. The R-60 rocket has a “core”. This is an alloy of inactive uranium, which is standard and used in this old Soviet rocket,” Ignat said.
Oleg Katkov, editor-in-chief of Defence Express, told Suspilny that uranium in R-60 missiles “is not something new.” It has been a rocket element since the days of production in the USSR. It is added to missiles to increase mass and as an ignition element when penetrating thick material, like a tank.
He added that these missiles were also discontinued during the Soviet era. Russia has not resumed their production and is using the missiles it has in stock.
Earlier, in the Chernihiv region, the Security Service of Ukraine detected an increased radiation background on the fragments of a Russian missile that was attached to a UAV. The Russian army attacked the region with a Geran-2 strike drone on the night of April 7, 2026. Fragments of an R-60 air-to-air missile were found near the village of Kamka.
The SBU stated that the radiation background from the rocket exceeds the natural one and poses a threat to human health. A safe radiation background is considered to be a value of up to 0.26 μSv/h (30 μR/h or 260 nSv/h). An elevated level is from 260 to 1200 nSv/h, and a dangerous level is from 1200 nSv/h.