Moscow on Tuesday rejected Kyiv’s claims that its air defenses shot down six Russian Kinzhal hypersonic missiles in a massive overnight attack.

“Russia did not launch as many Kinjal (missiles) as they (Ukrainians) say they shot down,” Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told the Ria Novosti agency, AFP and Agerpres reported.

“The number of these (so-called) “Ukrainian interceptions” is three times greater than what we shoot,” he added in statements transmitted by his press service on Telegram.

On Tuesday morning, Ukraine announced that it had shot down six hypersonic Kinjal missiles, which are very difficult to intercept, a major achievement at a time when Russia’s long-range attacks have stepped up again.

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“A new incredible success of the Ukrainian Air Force”, – said the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov.

In the evening, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi during a video conference at the Council of Europe welcomed the fact that, according to him, “100%” of the Russian missiles launched on the night of Monday to Tuesday towards the territory of Ukraine had been intercepted.

The Kinzhal (Russian for “Dagger”) missile is one of the weapons that Russian President Vladimir Putin has touted as “invincible” because its speed allows it to avoid most air defense systems.

Ukraine said it shot down such a Russian missile for the first time in early May thanks to the powerful American Patriot anti-aircraft system delivered to Kyiv in April.

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