Ukraine punctures Russian pride, claims forces shot down volley of ‘unstoppable’ Kinzhal missiles

Ukraine claimed on Tuesday that it had destroyed six Russian Kinzhal hypersonic missiles in a single night, defying Moscow’s claims that this superweapon was virtually unstoppable. It was the first time Ukraine had asserted that it had fired a full salvo of several hypersonic missiles, and if true, it would be a striking illustration of how effective recently installed Western air defences are. The six Kinzhal ballistic missiles, which can fly up to 10 times faster than sound, were launched into Ukraine by Russia in a barrage of 18 missiles over the course of one night. The rockets’ blasts lit up Kyiv in flashes and dumped debris as they fell from the sky. All have been successfully intercepted, according to Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, the head of Ukraine’s military forces. No quick response was received from Russia. According to city officials in the capital of Ukraine, three persons were hurt by falling debris. “It was exceptional in its density - the maximum number of attack missiles in the shortest period of time,” Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s city military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app. Six Kinzhal cruise missiles fired from aircraft, nine Kalibr cruise missiles fired from Black Sea ships, and three Iskander missiles fired from the ground were all intercepted, according to Zaluzhnyi. Utilising a recently deployed U.S. Patriot air defence system, Ukraine claimed earlier this month to have shot down a single Kinzhal missile over Kyiv for the first time. The capability of Patriots to stop Kinzhal missiles was previously just hypothetical. If you hit six at once, it might be a dependable defence rather than a fortuitous strike. The Kinzhal, one of six “next generation” weapons announced by President Vladimir Putin in 2018, has been repeatedly hailed as evidence of Russia’s superior military hardware, capable of defeating NATO. The dagger-named Kinzhal is capable of transporting conventional or nuclear payloads up to 2,000 km. They were initially employed in battle by Russia in Ukraine last year, though just a few firings have been acknowledged. Russia is currently carrying out long-range air strikes more frequently than at any other point in the conflict as Ukrainian forces get ready to launch their first offensive in six months. In contrast to weekly launches throughout the winter and a lull in March and April, it has launched eight drone and missile volleys so far this month. According to Kyiv, it has been shooting down the most. Nearly the entire country of Ukraine heard air raid sirens early on Tuesday; they could be heard for more than three hours over Kyiv and the surrounding area. “The enemy’s mission is to sow panic and create chaos. However, in the northern operational zone (including Kyiv), everything is under complete control,” General Serhiy Naev, Commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces, said. Ukraine has made its largest battlefield advances since last November over the last week, retaking several square kilometres of land on the northern and southern edges of the battleground city of Bakhmut. Moscow has admitted that some of its forces have retreated, but it disputes that its fighting lines are disintegrating on the edges of the city. The Ukrainian capital claims that those gains are confined and do not yet fully represent the might of its impending counteroffensive, which will make use of the hundreds of contemporary tanks and armoured vehicles that the West has provided this year. After a massive Russian winter offensive that saw the heaviest ground combat in Europe since World War Two but failed to seize significant additional territory, a Ukrainian counteroffensive would usher in the next crucial stage of the conflict. Moscow claims to have annexed about a sixth of its neighbor’s territory as of this writing after beginning its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February of last year. Early in the conflict, Ukraine drove Russian troops off the environs of Kyiv, and in two significant counteroffensives in the second half of 2022, it reclaimed lost ground. However, since November, Ukraine has maintained its forces on the defensive. According to Russia, the invasion was required to confront a security danger posed by Kyiv’s close relations to the West. According to Ukraine and its supporters, this is an unjustified and illegal war of conquest, and Kyiv has vowed to continue fighting until all Russian troops have left its territory. (With agency inputs) Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.