Russia tried to build its way out of a chip shortage. It didn’t work.
Vladyslav Vlasiuk, Ukraine’s Presidential Commissioner for Sanctions Policy, revealed that Russia swapped out US-made Texas Instruments processors in its Kinzhal hypersonic missiles for domestically produced chips back in 2023. The substitution was supposed to be a sanctions-proofing move, a signal that Russia’s defense industry could wean itself off Western technology. But newer Kinzhal missiles recovered in 2026 tell a different story: the American processors are back.
The board that said it all
The evidence comes from a “Zarya-61” circuit board pulled from a Kinzhal missile that was shot down over Ukraine in May 2026. That board contained US-made processors, confirming that Russia’s homegrown replacements couldn’t match the performance standards required for one of its premier weapons systems.
Vlasiuk’s disclosure paints a picture of a defense industry caught between ambition and capability. Russia clearly recognized the risk of depending on foreign semiconductors and made a deliberate effort to develop alternatives. That effort failed. And rather than accept degraded missile performance, Russian weapons manufacturers went back to sourcing the components they actually needed, sanctions or not.
