Ukraine shoots down Russian ‘unstoppable’ hypersonic missile

Ukrainian troops reportedly shoot down a Russian hypersonic ballistic missile using a Western-made air defense system.

According to Defense Express, Ukraine’s Armed Forces successfully intercepted a Russian Kinzhal (Kh-47) hypersonic missile at around 02:40 a.m. on May 4 over Kyiv.

Ukrainian Air Defense unit has detected, tracked and defeated hypersonic missiles in the final phases of flight.

The Defense Express article provides photos of wreckage that’s purported to be part of the KKinzhal air-launched hypersonic missile. Based on the photos, the wreckage without a warhead fell at a stadium in the Kyiv city limits. One of the photos shows a nosecone that is most similar to the one used in the Kh-47 Kinzhal missile with a complex shape of sharp diameter transitions.

Also, the nosecone of the downed missile, as seen in the photo, differs from the Iskander ballistic missile, which is “thicker.”

The wreckage shows that it was hit with a penetration, which allows us to estimate the thickness of the material needed to withstand the high temperature during acceleration to hypersonic speeds. It also indicates that the intercept was quite effective, with the warhead destroyed in midair.

This is the reason for the powerful explosion heard by Kyiv residents on the night of May 4.

The Russian military says the Kinzhal has a range of up to 2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles) and flies at 10 times the speed of sound, making it difficult to intercept. Russia has used the weapon to strike several targets in Ukraine.

Kremlin claimed that its fighter jet-launched Kinzhal missile system is “unstoppable” by current Western weapons.