The Ukrainian military said it destroyed nearly all of the hypersonic missiles Russia launched as part of a massive bombardment over the weekend.
Ukraine said Russia fired eight Kh-47M2 Kinzhal missiles and one 3M22 Zircon missile as part of a barrage that started on Saturday night and consisted of 210 missiles and drones of various types.
Kyiv’s air force said its defenders shot down more than 140 munitions that were part of the attack, including seven of the Kinzhals and the lone Zircon.
The purported success of Ukraine’s air defenses during the engagement marks the latest blow to the reputation of Russian hypersonic weapons, which Moscow has touted as highly advanced systems that are basically unstoppable. Kyiv has repeatedly demonstrated its ability to shoot them down.
The Kinzhal (Russian for “dagger”) is an advanced air-launched ballistic missile based on the ground-launched Iskander that Moscow claims is a hypersonic weapon. This is misleading because even though it can reach hypersonic speeds — at least five times the speed of sound — and features a certain amount of maneuverability, it lacks crucial characteristics that allow it to be classified as such.
The Kinzhal, which Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled in 2018, can carry a conventional explosive payload said to weigh some 1,000 pounds, but it’s also a nuclear-capable weapon.
The Zircon, sometimes spelled Tsirkon, is a ship-launched missile that Russian officials say can travel at speeds of nearly 7,000 mph. It has a reported range of more than 600 miles and entered service with Moscow’s military last year. The weapon has seen significantly less combat than the Kinzhal. Its first use in Ukraine, which was determined from fragments, was in February.
While the Kinzhal missile can be launched from Russian aircraft such as the MiG-31 and bombers, the Zircon has so far been limited to Russian Navy Admiral Gorshkov-class frigates. Russia has tested the weapon on submarines, though, and it’s looking into other platforms. There don’t appear to be any launch platforms in the Black Sea, but there are some other potential options. Business Insider wasn’t able to independently verify Ukraine’s claims that the weapon was used.
Ukraine has several air-defense systems it says are capable of taking down Russia’s hypersonic missiles, including the French/Italian-made SAMP-T and American-made MIM-104 Patriot battery. Kyiv has repeatedly asked its Western backers for more of these systems to defend the country from attacks such as the one over the weekend.
Analysts have said Ukraine’s ability to shoot down Russia’s advanced weapons, including the self-described hypersonic missiles, could provide both Kyiv and NATO with significant intelligence. These are top systems among a batch of weapons that are sometimes described as Putin’s “super weapons.”
While Russia’s hypersonic missiles have failed thus far to live up to the Kremlin’s hype of being unstoppable, the Ukrainian interception rates for these weapons are still relatively low compared with other munitions such as drones and more traditional cruise missiles, highlighting the challenge.
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