JAKARTA - Ukraine said on Tuesday it had shot down six Russian Kinzhal missiles in one night, thwarting Moscow's heralded weapons as the latest generation of hypersonic missiles that could not be stopped.
This is the first time Ukraine has claimed to have shot down an entire Kinzhal missile, and if confirmed, it will be a demonstration of the effectiveness of the Western air defenses that have just been deployed in Kyiv.
The sirens of airstrikes roared across Ukraine on Tuesday morning, heard in the capital Ukraine and its surrounding region for more than three hours.
"The enemy's mission is to spread panic and create chaos. However, in the northern operational zone (including Kyiv), everything is under control," said Joint Forces Commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, General Serhiy Naev.
Six Kinzhals were among 18 missiles fired by Russia into Ukraine overnight, illuminating Kyiv with flash of light and debris after the missiles were fired from the sky.
It is not clear which Western weapon Ukraine used to beat Kinzhal. The Pentagon did not immediately comment.
Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Defense claims to have destroyed the US-made Patriot's surface-to-air missile defense system with the Kinzhal missile, the military media Zvezda reported.
However, the top commander of the Ukrainian armed forces, General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, said all of the missiles had been intercepted.
Kyiv authorities said three people were injured by the rubble.
"That's amazing in terms of density - the maximum number of attack missiles in a short time," said Serhiy Popko, head of military administration for Kyiv City, via Telegram.
Zvezda quoted the Russian Ministry as saying the attacks were aimed at Ukrainian combat units and ammunition storage areas.
General Zaluzhnyi said his forces had intercepted six Kinzhals launched from aircraft, as well as nine Kalibr cruise missiles from ships in the Black Sea and three Iskanders fired from the ground.
Separately, the US-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said Kinzhal quickly accelerated to Mach 4 (4,900 km/hour) after launch, could reach speeds of up to Mach 10 or 10 times the speed of sound. Meanwhile, hypersonic weapons travel at least five times the speed of sound.
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"It should be noted that Russia's designation for Kinzhal as a 'hypersonic' missile is somewhat misleading, as almost all ballistic missiles reach hypersonic speeds (that is, above Mach 5) at a time during their flight," CSIS wrote on its website, describing the missile.
It is known that the Kinzhal missile, whose name means mandate, can carry up to 2,000 km of conventional or nuclear warheads. Russia used this weapon in a war for the first time in Ukraine last year, only admitting to firing this missile on several occasions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has often praised Kinzhal as evidence of Russia's military hardware defeating the world, which is capable of facing NATO.
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