Michael McKenna, Joseph Curl, Jed Babbin
Ukraine’s air defenses knocked out a wave of Russian missiles early Tuesday, including at least six hypersonic Kinzhal missiles aimed at Kyiv that Moscow claimed were invulnerable, military officials said.
In addition to the Kinzhal missiles launched from MiG-31 jet fighters, Russia fired nine Kalibr cruise missiles from ships in the Black Sea and at least three land-based Iskander missiles, Col. Gen. Mykola Oleschuk, Ukraine’s air force commander, said on his Telegram social messaging page.
“All missiles were destroyed,” Gen. Oleshuk said.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov called Tuesday’s operations “another unbelievable success for the Ukrainian Air Forces.”
“Russian terrorists have no chance of prevailing over Ukraine. Their weapons can and should be countered by Western ones,” Mr. Reznikov tweeted.
The Kinzhal is one of the most sophisticated weapons in Moscow’s arsenal. In 2021, Sergey Chemazov, CEO of the state-owned Rostec defense conglomerate, said there were no effective countermeasures to it.
“They are precise; they hit their target at a long distance, plus, they have a very high speed. It is effectively impossible to intercept such a missile,” Mr. Chemazov told the state-owned TASS news agency.
The latest mission comes a week after Ukraine shot down a Russian Kinzhal with a U.S.-manufactured Patriot air defense missile.
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