Russia has deployed Kinzhal hypersonic missiles three times in a so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said yesterday.
The Kinzhal missile is part of a group of weapons that Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed in 2018 during a speech in which he said it could hit almost anywhere in the world and avoid US missile shields.
Shweiho said in an interview with state television that the missiles had proven effective in hitting high-value targets on three occasions, adding that they were unmatched and virtually impossible to shoot down in flight.
He added: “We used it three times during the special operation, and in three cases it showed excellent performance.”
Russia first used the Kinzhal system in Ukraine about a month after sending tens of thousands of troops into its neighbor’s territory, targeting a large weapons depot in the Ivano-Frankivsk region in western Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday it had moved three MiG-31E combat aircraft equipped with Kinzhal missiles to Kaliningrad, Russia’s coastal region on the Baltic Sea between NATO and European Union members Poland and Lithuania.
