Ukrainian air defense thwarts Russian air attack on Kyiv, shoots down 6 Kinzhal hypersonic missiles
At night, Russian troops carried out an air strike on Ukraine using cruise and hypersonic missiles, but the attack was repelled by significantly strengthened air defense system.
At about 4:30am Kyiv time, more than a dozen missiles were launched on different districts of Kyiv. Four missiles were shot down over the Mykolaiv region. As reported by the commander of the Ukrainian troops, Valery Zaluzhny, the strike was carried out using "18 air, sea and land-based missiles."
"Six Kh-47M2 Kinzhal missiles were launched from six MiG-31K aircraft, nine Kalibr cruise missiles were fired from ships in the Black Sea and three missiles (S-400, Iskander-M) were launched from the ground. All 18 missiles were destroyed by the air defense forces of the Ukrainian Air Force," the commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said.
The Kyiv city administration said that "a vast majority of air targets which the Russians used to attack Kyiv on the night of May 16 were destroyed."
After the launch of the missiles, an air raid alert was announced in almost all Ukrainian regions, but the strike, apparently, was limited to Kyiv. The city administration of the Ukrainian capital reported the fallen debris in different areas - Obolonsky, Darnytsky, Shevchenkovsky, Solomensky.
In some places, burning debris from missiles caused fires and destruction. "The biggest damage is in the Solomensky district. There was a fire at non-residential property and several motor vehicles. The fire has been extinguished. In other areas, the damage is insignificant. In most cases, debris fell on parked cars, a street, or a forest park area, " said Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv city administration.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense reports that over the past two months, not a single missile and not a single unmanned aerial vehicle has managed to penetrate the air defense system protecting the Ukrainian capital.