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Ukraine's air defenses shot down six Russian hypersonic missiles as Moscow launched a fresh wave of strikes overnight, according to Kyiv.
Russia launched 18 missile strikes across Ukraine at about 3.30 a.m. local time on Tuesday, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said in a post to social media.
Six Kh-47M2 Kinzhal hypersonic missiles were launched from Russian MiG-31K jets, Ukraine's military said, as well as nine Kalibr missiles from vessels in the Black Sea. Several other missiles, including the land-based, short-range Iskander-M, were also fired at Ukrainian targets, Ukrainian authorities said in an update.
"All 18 missiles were destroyed by the forces and means of air defense of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," Ukraine's military said.
Kinzhal hypersonic missiles were part of a host of new, advanced weaponry unveiled by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018. They are believed to have a range of about 1,250 miles, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) think tank's Missile Defense Project, and can carry either conventional or nuclear payloads.
Tuesday morning's barrage was a "complex attack from different directions simultaneously," the head of the Kyiv military administration, Serhiy Popko, said in a statement. "It was exceptional in its density – the maximum number of attacking missiles in the shortest period of time," he added in a post to Telegram on Tuesday.
In an operational update, Russia's Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that it had delivered a "concentrated strike with long-range air and sea-based high-precision weapons," aiming at targets including ammunition storage sites and "military equipment delivered from Western countries."
"A high-precision strike by a hypersonic missile system 'Dagger' in the city of Kyiv hit a U.S.-made Patriot anti-aircraft missile system," the ministry added.
Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for further comment via email.
Earlier this month, Ukraine's Air Force commander, Lieutenant General Mykola Oleschuk, said Ukraine had successfully "brought down the 'unparalleled' Dagger" on May 4, referring to a Kinzhal hypersonic missile, which he said was fired from a Russian MiG-31K. A Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson then told Ukrainian media that a Patriot air defense system had shot down the hypersonic missile. The U.S., Germany and the Netherlands have committed to sending Patriot systems to Ukraine, and they arrived in the country in April.
"Today, our beautiful Ukrainian sky becomes more secure because Patriot air defense systems have arrived in Ukraine," Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said in a post to social media on April 19.
In a press briefing on May 9, Pentagon Press Secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder said the Ukrainian military "did down a Russian missile by employing the Patriot missile defense system," later specifying it was a Kinzhal missile.
Russia's military had attempted to destroy a U.S.-made Patriot with the missile, but Kyiv's forces instead intercepted the Kinzhal, two U.S. officials later told CNN.
On May 11, Russian state media quoted a "high-placed source in Russia's Defense Ministry" as saying this was a "fake report," adding that a "Kinzhal was allegedly intercepted is a wishful thinking attempt."
Russia's Defense Ministry has previously claimed it is impossible to detect or shoot down a Kinzhal hypersonic missile. In August 2022, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the Kinzhal had displayed "brilliant characteristics" in Ukraine.
However, there is some skepticism among Western military analysts over whether the Kinzhal deserves its purported classification as hypersonic.
"If Kinzhal genuinely was a hypersonic missile as Putin claims – that is, one capable of carrying out complex maneuvers at more than Mach 5 – then it would be extremely difficult to intercept with current anti-missile systems," according to military expert David Hambling.
"However, all the indications are the Kinzhal is simply an air-launched ballistic missile" with a limited course-correction capacity, rather than being truly hypersonic, he told Newsweek.
Russia's labeling of the Kinzhal as hypersonic is "somewhat misleading," the CSIS has previously said, adding: "Nearly all ballistic missiles reach hypersonic speeds (i.e. above Mach 5) at some point during their flight."
The Kinzhal still poses a "much bigger challenge" for Ukrainian air defenses than the slow cruise missiles and attack drones also launched by Russia, Hambling added, pointing out that it can "still be brought down."
Update 05/16/23, 6:20 a.m. ET: This article was updated with a statement posted by Russia's Defense Ministry.
About the writer
Ellie Cook is a Newsweek security and defense reporter based in London, U.K. Her work focuses largely on the Russia-Ukraine ... Read more