Since the start of the war five months ago, the Ukrainian military has captured or recovered from the battlefield intact or partially damaged Russian weapons. When disassembled, 27 of these weapons and military systems, ranging from cruise missiles to air defence systems, were found to rely predominantly on Western components, according to the research shared with Reuters.
"Russian weapons that are critically dependent upon Western electronics have resulted in the deaths of thousands of Ukrainians," Jack Watling, a land warfare specialist at RUSI, told Reuters. A detail photo shows Cypress Semiconductor chips in the on-board computer of a Russian 9M727 missile that was collected on the battlefield by Ukraine's military and presented to Reuters by a senior Ukrainian security official, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Jul 19, 2022.
Analog Devices said the company closed their business in Russia and instructed distributors to halt shipments to the country. However, more than 80 Western-manufactured microchips were subject to US export controls since at least 2014 meaning they would have required a licence to be shipped to Russia, RUSI said. The companies exporting the parts had a responsibility to carry out due diligence to ensure they were not being sent to the Russian military or for a military end-use, according to RUSI.