A Russian missile struck a cargo ship last month but British officials on Thursday said they don’t believe the civilian bulk carrier was the intended target.

On September 11, a Tu-22 Tupolev bomber fired an AS-4 Kitchen anti-ship missile that hit the merchant vessel (MV) Aya after it left the Ukrainian port of Odesa. The cargo ship was carrying 26,000 tons of grain bound for Egypt at the time.

However, the missile failed to detonate, which British officials said prevented catastrophic damage to the ship. It is more likely that “poor targeting procedures” from Russian pilots using an aging munition was responsible, British military intelligence officials said in a social media posting of their latest assessment of the war in Ukraine.

Russia has been increasingly wary about their strike operations in the Black Sea region following the loss in April of a Tu-22 bomber, UK officials said.

“It is realistic possibility that this incident occurred due to pilots incorrectly identifying MV Aya as their target in haste, wanting to depart the area immediately after launch for fear of being targeted by a Ukrainian surface-to-air missile,” British officials said, while not identifying what the actual target likely was.

Questionable targeting skills aren’t the only challenge for Russian combat pilots operating in Ukrainian territory. Intelligence analysts said the AS-4 missile has consistently underperformed on the battlefield.

“Launching a supersonic cruise missile on an incorrect heading against a likely erroneous target in international waters demonstrates extremely poor and irresponsible aviation practice,” the British intelligence officials said on X.

• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.