A new video released by the Ukrainian military shows another remarkable strike that many would have thought impossible before the war began in late February.

The 16-second video shows how the Kyiv military managed to shoot down a Russian cruise missile (X-101 or X-55 “Kent”) from a 9K38 “Igla” man-portable anti-aircraft missile system (MANPADS).

A successful strike is absolutely stunning, most military analysts consider it impossible before the start of the war in Ukraine on February 24 for several reasons:

• MANPADS systems have a very short range, so a soldier armed with such a mobile launcher must be in the right place at the right time to hit the missile. In this case, the Ukrainian army probably immediately informs the military on the territory after detecting some launches by Russian forces, puts them on guard and they quickly go to predetermined positions;

• missiles used by MANPADS systems rely on infrared guidance, tracking a distinct thermal signature (heat given off by a target) for guidance. But cruise missiles are small objects compared to an airplane or helicopter, and their engines don’t have such a noticeable heat signature. Although it exists, it is incomparably smaller than in helicopters or airplanes;

• the speed of cruise missiles (from 600 to 800 km/h) makes them appear and disappear very quickly from the field of view of a soldier armed with such a mobile launcher, as well as the time to fix the target through MANPADS (blocking). is usually a few seconds, which means that the missile has passed over the military for some time and is moving away. Additionally, the military with a mobile system can only engage the cruise missile from behind, mostly after it has bypassed them and moved away, because the heat signature can only be detected from behind the missile.

In addition, in the video released by the Ukrainian military, at seconds 00:02-00:03, with a freeze frame, you can see how another missile fired from the MANPADS does not hit the target, but passes by the Russian cruise missile.

This is probably the second frame that confirms the downing of a cruise missile by the Ukrainians from a MANPADS, the other one appeared on social networks in October.

A new massive missile attack on Ukraine

The Ukrainian military managed to strike a new blow on Thursday, when the Russian armed forces launched another large-scale missile attack on Ukraine.

Mykhailo Podolyak, one of the main advisers to the President of Ukraine, said that on Thursday morning, Russia fired more than 120 missiles into Ukraine.

Explosions rang out in Kyiv, Zhytomyr and Odesa, a Reuters correspondent and local media reported. But Ukrainian authorities said they came from air defense systems that shot down the incoming missiles.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terezhov noted that officials are still investigating what exactly happened and whether there are any victims, while Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klychko warned of possible power outages in the area and asked residents to charge their phones.

Odesa Governor Maksym Marchenko said that Ukrainian air defense shot down no less than 21 missiles over his region alone.

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