The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine on Monday evening gave its first reaction to reports that its military forces managed to shoot down a Russian hypersonic missile “Kinzhal” (Dagger), as Kyiv initially wanted to keep the information secret.

Kh-47M2 “Kinjal” is a hypersonic missile with nuclear capabilities. Speed ​​13,000 km/h, range 2,000 km. But now it doesn’t matter when Fr [rachetă] A patriot is in his way,” the Ministry of Defense in Kyiv said on its Twitter page.

“Ukraine is the best testing ground for most modern Western weapons. Ukraine knows how to demonstrate everyone’s capabilities [armelor] from his arsenal,” he added.

We will remind you that last Friday, the specialized publication Defense Express wrote for the first time that Ukrainian anti-aircraft equipment shot down a Kinjal hypersonic missile launched by the Russians at a target in Kyiv on Thursday at 02:40.

Ukrainian journalist Oleksiy Yarmolenko said that the BBC did not want to advertise the success so that the Russians would not find out about it.

What the Air Force of Ukraine said about the downing of the Kinjal missile.

Yarmolenko says that the servicemen who shot down the missile unofficially confirmed this information, and representatives of the Ukrainian Air Force “are very outraged by this and their spokesman refuses to make any statements today.”

The Air Force of Ukraine finally confirmed the strike on Saturday, after its spokesman stressed to journalists the day before that “I told you a thousand times that it was not so (…) They were not ballistic missiles” (among the downed targets).

Kyiv troops also said that the Russian hypersonic missile was shot down by the Patriot system received by Ukraine

“Once again, we emphasize that the military leadership decided not to make public information about the downing of the X-47 Kinjal missile by the Patriot system. The reasons are quite clear. Everything has its time! Thanks for understanding! Together to victory!”, – says the message of the Air Force of Ukraine in Telegram.

Hypersonic missiles, the pride of Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly emphasized that he is investing in hypersonic missiles and that they are “invincible,” but what are they really?

Moscow claims that these missiles fly at extremely high speeds – Mach 10 or 12,000 km per hour – and that, combined with maneuverability, is extremely difficult or impossible to intercept. However, some Western military experts believe that Russia may be exaggerating the capabilities of its hypersonic air-to-ground weapons.

“A hypersonic missile has greater penetration and destructive power due to its very high speed,” military analyst Vasyl Kacine explains.

The statistics are impressive: according to Russian officials, the Kinjal is capable of hitting targets at a distance of more than 2,000 km.

Last December, President Putin boasted that Russia leads the world in hypersonic missiles, which are difficult to track because they can change direction in flight.

The reaction from Ukraine’s defense ministry on Monday night came ahead of Russia’s World War II Victory Day celebrations on Tuesday, the event of the year for Vladimir Putin.

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