Much has been made of Russia’s Kinjal hypersonic missiles in the past 36 hours, after Ukraine said it shot down six of them following a Russian attack early Tuesday morning.

Speaking to Sky News, a Western official gave more details about the messages and their meaning.

“Potentially up to six” Kinjal missiles were launched by Russia and “several” were shot down by Ukrainians, the official said, though he could not “comment on exactly how it was done.”

The Kremlin believed that this weapon would “absolutely change the rules of the game,” the official continued.

They said the Kinjaal missile “has the potential to reach hypersonic speeds” given its “ballistic trajectory”, while Moscow said it would be “virtually impossible” to shoot it down.

“It wasn’t,” they added.

If we talk about a potential Ukrainian counteroffensive, the forces of Kyiv are “approaching the final preparations” and have “the potential to achieve some success,” the official said.

“I would say that, without a doubt, more important than opening a breach through the Russian lines to the Russian border will be the psychological effect on those in the Kremlin. This is a chance, we would appreciate, for Ukraine to show President Putin that it cannot simply win by not showing up, waiting for war behind the lines of the defensive trenches,” he emphasized to Sky News.

Ukraine also claimed to have shot down a Kinjal missile in the first week of May.

Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly assessed the capabilities of Russian hypersonic weapons and presented them as capable of overcoming all existing air defense systems.

Producing hypersonic ballistic missiles has always been a challenge for Russia, and sanctions have only made it more difficult.

What are hypersonic missiles?

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.

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

Different classes of Russian supersonic weapons

Kinjal rocket (dagger)

First successfully tested in 2018, the Kinjal hit all of its targets during tests at a range of 1,000 to 2,000 km, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense. But this range can be extended, since they are conducted from aircraft, especially the MiG-31.

Rocket Avangard

Russia’s Avangard hypersonic cruise missiles are capable of changing direction and altitude at very high speeds, making them “virtually invincible,” according to Putin, who compared the scientific and military progress of their development “to the creation of the first artificial Earth satellite.” , the famous Satellite.

Successfully tested in December 2018, they reached Mach 27 – or 27 times the speed of sound – and hit a target about 6,000 km away, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. They were commissioned in December 2019. Avangard hypersonic gliders are capable of carrying a nuclear payload.

Zircon rockets

Zircon hypersonic missiles are launched from a surface ship or submarine. The first official test launch took place in October 2020, and it flies at a speed of Mach 9 to engage targets on land or at sea.

At the end of December 2021, Vladimir Putin announced the first successful trial test of the Zircon missile.

Other tests have been held since October 2020 in the Russian Arctic, in particular from the Admiral Gorchkov frigate and a submarine.

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