Ukrainian air defence repelled an ‘exceptional’ barrage of missiles aimed at Kyiv last night (Picture: Getty)
Ukraine claims to have shot down six Russian hypersonic Kinzhal missiles in a single night, thwarting a superweapon Moscow had previously claimed was unstoppable.
Missiles and drones rained down on Kyiv last night in one of the largest air attacks the Ukrainian capital had suffered since the start of Russia’s invasion.
Yet in what appeared to be a test of Kyiv’s new US-supplied air defence system to date, nearly all the missiles were repelled- including an entire payload of ‘unstoppable’ Kinzhals.
The six Kinzhals, ballistic missiles which travel at up to 10 times the speed of sound, were among a volley of 18 missiles Russia fired at Ukraine overnight, lighting up Kyiv with flashes and raining debris after they were blasted from the sky.
Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko shows a Kh-47 Kinzhal Russian hypersonic missile warhead, shot down by a Ukrainian Air Defence unit (Picture: Reuters)
Russia’s defence ministry claimed to have destroyed an American-built Patriot surface-to-air missile defence system with one of the hypersonic missiles.
But the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said all had been successfully intercepted.
City authorities in the Ukrainian capital said three people were wounded by falling debris.
‘It was exceptional in its density – the maximum number of attack missiles in the shortest period of time,’ Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s city military administration, said on Telegram.
Zaluzhnyi said his forces had intercepted the six Kinzhals launched from aircraft, as well as nine Kalibr cruise missiles from ships in the Black Sea and three Iskanders fired from land.
Earlier this month, Ukraine claimed to have shot down a single Kinzhal missile over Kyiv for the first time using a newly deployed U.S. Patriot air defence system.
Ukraine shoots down six ‘unstoppable’ Russian
The hypersonic missiles, which had long been touted by Putin as a world-beater, can carry conventional or nuclear warheads for 2000km and travel at speeds of up to Mach 10 (7,600mph).
Debris from the intercepted missiles were found scattered throughout Kyiv (Picture: @EuromaidenPR)
Russian President Vladimir Putin has frequently touted the Kinzhal as proof of world-beating Russian military hardware, capable of taking on NATO.
With Ukrainian forces preparing to go on the offensive for the first time in six months, Russia is now launching long-range air strikes at the highest frequency of the war.
It has launched eight drone and missile volleys so far this month, compared to weekly during the winter and a lull in March and April. Kyiv says it has been shooting most down.
The past week has seen Ukrainian forces make their biggest gains on the battlefield since last November, recapturing several square km of territory on the northern and southern outskirts of the battlefield city of Bakhmut. Moscow has acknowledged that some of its troops have retreated but denies that its battle lines are crumbling.
Kyiv says those advances are localised and do not yet represent the full force of its upcoming counteroffensive, which is expected to take advantage of hundreds of modern tanks and armoured vehicles sent by the West this year.
A Ukrainian counteroffensive would bring the next major phase of the war after a huge Russian winter offensive that failed to capture significant new territory despite the bloodiest ground combat in Europe since World War Two.
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Putin has longed touted his ‘unstoppable’ hypersonic missiles as proof of Russia’s military superiority.
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