The sandy-yellow colored missiles, 10 metres (32 feet) long and a metre (3.2 feet) in diameter, carried inscriptions in a cyrillic alphabet on their fuselages. They were loaded on 15 trailers that carried no licence plates.

Witnesses said the trailers were abandoned at the site several days ago by men in civilian clothes.

Looters who were busy on the edges of the lot, which was surrounded by houses under construction, stayed well away, shouting to journalists: "Boom, boom. Kamikazes!"

SPACE.WIRE