Russia‘s military used hypersonic missiles as a part of its large-scale barrage on Thursday.
Russian forces launched dozens of strikes on Thursday across Ukraine in what was one of the largest barrages of strikes in weeks, which they said was in retaliation for a supposed Ukrainian operation within Russia’s Bryansk region. Six of the more than 80 strikes were X-47 Kinzhal air-launched cruise hypersonic missiles.
RUSSIA LAUNCHES ‘MASSIVE’ BARRAGE ACROSS UKRAINE
A Ukrainian military official said they do not have the capabilities to intercept hypersonic weapons, which travel at a speed that reaches or exceeds five times the speed of sound.
“The attack is really large-scale and for the first time using such different types of missiles. We see that this time as many as six Kinzhal were used. This is an attack like I don’t remember seeing before,” Yurii Ihnat, spokesman for the Air Force Command of Ukraine, said on Ukrainian television Thursday. “So far, we have no capabilities to counter these weapons,” he added, referring to the Kinzhals and six X-22 air-launched cruise missiles that were also a part of the barrage.
Thursday’s strikes were not the first time Russia resorted to using hypersonic missiles in their war in Ukraine, though United States officials have said their usage doesn’t quite make sense.
“We’ve seen these reports of hypersonics. This would not be the first time that the Ukrainians used hypersonics. They’ve done this in the past. It’s difficult to understand why you would need a hypersonic missile to hit a fixed building so far away when you have other means at your disposal,” National Security Council coordinator John Kirby said on CNN Thursday.
The Kinzhal is a nuclear-capable air-launched ballistic missile that is a variant of the short-range ballistic missile. Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled the weapon in 2018.
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Last spring, in commenting on Russia’s use of hypersonic weapons in Ukraine, President Joe Biden said, “They’ve just launched a — their hypersonic missile because it’s the only thing that they can get through with absolute certainty. It’s — as you all know, it’s a consequential weapon. And — but — with the same warhead on it as a — as any other launched missile. It doesn’t make that much difference, except it’s almost impossible to stop it. There’s a reason they’re using it.”
At the time, a senior U.S. defense official said Russia’s use of hypersonics does not demonstrate “a whole lot of practicality” and is “a bit of a head-scratcher, to be honest.”
