Ukraine’s 19th Missile Brigade continues to rely on refurbished Soviet-era Tochka-U ballistic missiles in its ongoing war with Russia, despite a dwindling supply, Forbes reports. David Axe, a war correspondent for the outlet, notes that Ukraine inherited around 500 Tochka-U missiles when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. By early 2022, as Russia expanded its invasion of Ukraine, only about 90 of these missiles remained in the Ukrainian arsenal.
The decline in missile availability is understandable, Axe explains. The Tochka-U, a two-ton rocket with a range of 70 miles, is powered by a single-stage, solid-fuel engine.
“Solid rocket fuels don’t last forever,” he notes, referring to the missile’s aging technology.
Despite these challenges, recent photos and videos from January and March 2025 confirmed that the 19th Missile Brigade, which also operates US-made HIMARS launchers, has continued deploying what appear to be newly refurbished Tochka-U missiles.
HIMARS and Tochka-U: precision & power.
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) March 30, 2025
????: 19th Missile Brigade pic.twitter.com/TwttpHPobD
Ukraine revives old missiles
The pro-Ukraine Conflict Intelligence Team has suggested a possible explanation for this continued use: speculation that the Ukrainian forces managed to restore missiles once thought to be beyond repair. This likely involved the perilous process of disassembling, refueling, and rebuilding decades-old missiles—an extremely hazardous task given the toxic and explosive nature of the materials involved.
This is at least the second instance of the 19th Missile Brigade receiving refurbished Tochka-Us. After depleting its pre-war stockpile in early 2023, the brigade remained inactive for about six months before resuming operations in November 2023. These operations have included targeting Russian positions in Belgorod Oblast (western Russia) and Donetsk Oblast (eastern Ukraine).
Axe suggests that Ukraine’s advanced rocket industry is likely the source of the refurbished missiles.
“Ukraine has long had one of the largest rocket industries in Europe,” he writes.
The Yuzhmash facility in Dnipro, southern Ukraine, is a key player in this industry, producing both rockets and rocket components for military and space applications. Despite repeated Russian airstrikes on Yuzhmash, including a devastating April 2023 strike that Russia claimed “destroyed” a Tochka-U workshop and another strike in November with an experimental Oreshnik missile, the facility appears to have remained operational.
“The Tochka-U is not a sophisticated missile,” Axe observes. “If Yuzhmash can produce heavy engines for high-stakes space launches, there’s no reason it can’t recondition the much simpler Tochka-U.”
However, the pace of refurbishment appears to be slow, resulting in what Axe describes as the 19th Missile Brigade’s “sporadic” use of these missiles. Thus, these missiles mark a sporadic yet powerful tool in Ukraine’s ongoing military efforts.
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