The Russians have been firing a relatively new cruise missile called "Kaliber," using it for the first time in combat."
So this is beta testing.
Yes.
It would of been cheaper for them to hit these targets from the air, but they wanted to try out the new missiles and the new launch platforms as well. They probably want a "combat proven" system to assist in the international sales of the export version of this system. The ruskies knew 4 missiles crashed short, but reported all hit perhaps for this reason. Of course we were watching, and reported the shorts to embarrass them. and perhaps hinder their sales efforts.
