Global Courant 2023-05-06 19:17:25
Kyiv, Ukraine — The Ukrainian Air Force on Saturday claimed to have downed a Russian hypersonic missile over Kiev using newly acquired US Patriot defense systems, the first known time the country has been able to intercept one of Moscow’s most modern missiles.
Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk said in a Telegram message that the Kinzhal-type ballistic missile was intercepted during a night raid on the Ukrainian capital earlier this week. It was also the first time Ukraine is known to have used the Patriot defense systems.
“Yes, we shot the ‘unique’ Kinzhal,” Oleshchuk wrote. “It happened during the May 4 night attack in the skies of the Kiev region.”
Oleshchuk said that the Kh-47 missile was launched by a MiG-31K aircraft from Russian territory and shot down by a Patriot missile.
The Kinzhal is one of the newest and most advanced Russian weapons. The Russian military says the air-launched ballistic missile has a range of up to 2,000 kilometers (about 1,250 miles) and flies at 10 times the speed of sound, making it difficult to intercept.
Combining hypersonic speed and a heavy warhead, the Kinzhal can destroy heavily fortified targets, such as underground bunkers or mountain tunnels.
The Ukrainian army has previously admitted that it has no means to intercept the Kinzhals.
“They said that the Patriot is an outdated American weapon and that Russian weapons are the best in the world,” Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat told Ukraine’s Channel 24 television channel. said Ihnat.
He said the successful interception of the Kinzhal “is a slap in the face to Russia”.
Ukraine received the first delivery of the Patriot missiles at the end of April. It has not specified how many of the systems it has or where they have been deployed, but is known to have been supplied by the United States, Germany and the Netherlands.
Germany and the US have acknowledged sending at least one system each and the Netherlands has said it has supplied two, although it is not clear how many are currently in use.
Ukrainian forces have received the extensive training necessary to effectively locate a target with the systems, engage with radar and fire. Each battery requires up to 90 personnel to operate and maintain.
Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said he first requested Patriot systems when he visited the US in August 2021, months before Russia’s full-scale invasion but seven years after Russia illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula.
He has described owning the system as “a dream”, but said he was told in the US at the time that it was impossible.
The Patriot was first used by the US in the 1980s. The system costs about $4 million per rocket, according to analysts, and the launchers cost about $10 million each.
At such a cost, it was widely believed that Ukraine would only use the Patriots against Russian aircraft or hypersonic missiles.
In a Telegram message on Saturday, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, said he had thanked US General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for continued US aid to Ukraine.
Zaluzhnyi said he also briefed Milley “about the situation at the front and preparations” for Ukraine’s counter-offensive against Russia.
Ukraine has not said when it would launch the counter-offensive, but this spring is widely expected.
In an interview this week with Foreign Affairs magazine, Milley said he wouldn’t speculate on if or when it would come, but with NATO aid to help train and equip nine brigades of combined arms, armor and mechanized infantry. , “the Ukrainians now have the opportunity to attack.
He also said their ability to defend was “significantly improved from what they were just a year ago”.
“I don’t want to suggest whether or not they will conduct an offensive operation in the coming weeks,” he said. ‘That’s up to them. They have a considerable amount of planning and coordination and all that to do, if they were to conduct an offensive operation. But they are ready to attack or defend.”
In other developments, officials in both Russia and Ukraine said they had conducted another of their regular POW exchanges.
Russia’s defense ministry said it had returned three military pilots to Russia, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said 45 fighters defending the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol had been returned to Ukraine.
Also on Saturday, Ukrainian Special Operations Forces accused Russia of using phosphorus ammunition in an attempt to wrest control of the eastern city of Bakhmut from Ukrainian forces.
Russian troops have been trying to take the city for more than nine months, but Ukrainian troops are still clinging to positions on the western edge of the city.
On Saturday, the newspaper Ukrainska Pravda quoted military officials as saying that “the enemy used phosphorus and incendiary ammunition in Bakhmut in an attempt to wipe the city off the face of the earth.”
A photo accompanying the newspaper report showed how an urban area was on fire in several places.
The allegations could not be independently verified.
Russian troops have not commented on the claim, but have rejected previous accusations from Ukraine that they had used phosphorus.
International law prohibits the use of white phosphorus or other incendiary weapons – ammunition designed to set fire to objects or cause burns – in areas where there may be concentrations of civilians.
White phosphorus can also be used for lighting or to create smoke screens.
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