Air-launched ballistic missiles, capable of speeds up to Mach 10, can carry nuclear or conventional warheads.
Ukraine says it shot down a Russian hypersonic missile over the capital Kiev using a newly acquired US Patriot defense system, in a first in its ability to intercept one of Moscow’s most advanced weapons.
The Kinzhal missile is one of the newest and most advanced Russian weapons. The military says the air-launched ballistic missile has a range of up to 2,000 km (1,250 miles) and travels at 10 times the speed of sound, making it difficult to intercept.
A combination of hypersonic speed and a heavy warhead allows the Kinzhal to destroy heavily fortified targets such as underground bunkers or mountain tunnels.
“I congratulate the Ukrainian people on this historic event. Yes, we shot down the ‘unique’ Kinzhal,” Ukrainian Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said in a Telegram post on Saturday. “It happened during the night attack on May 4 in the skies of the Kyiv region.”
It was the first time Ukraine was known to deploy the Patriot missile defense system.
Oleshchuk said the Kh-47 was launched from Russian territory by a MiG-31K aircraft and shot down with a single Patriot missile. The Ukrainian military has previously admitted it lacks the means to intercept the supersonic weapon.
The Kinzhal, which means “dagger” in Russian, is one of six “next-generation” weapons unveiled by President Vladimir Putin in 2018, when the Russian leader boasted it could not be shot down by any of the world’s air defense systems.
The air-launched ballistic missile can reach speeds of up to Mach 10 (12,350 kilometers per hour) and can carry nuclear or conventional warheads.
‘A dream’
Thursday’s airstrike came a day after Russia accused Ukraine of a failed attempt to assassinate Putin in a drone strike on the Kremlin citadel in Moscow and threatened retaliation.
Moscow has since accused Washington of complicity in allegations denied by both Ukraine and the United States.
Ukraine received its first batch of Patriot missiles in late April. It has not specified how many of the systems it has or where they have been deployed, but is known to have been provided by the US, Germany and the Netherlands.
Germany and the US have confirmed they have sent at least one system and the Netherlands have said they have deployed two, although it’s not clear how many are currently operational.
Ukrainian troops have received the extensive training needed to effectively locate, radar lock and fire on a target with the systems. Up to 90 employees are required to operate and maintain each battery.
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said he first asked about Patriot systems when he visited the US in August 2021, months before Russia’s all-out invasion but seven years after Moscow illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula.
He has described owning the system as “a dream” but said he was told by US officials at the time it was impossible.
Failed Raids
The Patriot was first used by the United States in the 1980s. The system costs about $4 million per rocket, according to analysts, and the launchers cost $10 million each.
At such a price, it was widely believed that Ukraine would use the Patriots only against Russian aircraft or hypersonic missiles.
The Patriot system is among a suite of sophisticated air defense units being supplied by the West to help Ukraine repel a months-long Russian airstrikes campaign targeting critical infrastructure, power plants and other locations.
Hundreds of civilians were killed in the attacks, which Russia intensified in October before the winter. The raids failed to shut down the power grid, but caused widespread power outages and other outages. Russia denies attacks on civilians.
Ukraine’s Air Force said on Saturday it shot down eight Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones shot down by Russia in a night attack on Ukraine’s eastern and south-eastern regions.