'Multiple launches': Russia fires Kinzhal (Dagger) hypersonic missiles in Ukraine war

US Air Force General Tod Wolters told lawmakers that the Russian military has launched "multiple" hypersonic weapons into Ukraine.

"There have been multiple launches. Most of them have been directed at military targets,” Wolters told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Russia said earlier declared that it has fired its newest Kinzhal hypersonic missiles in Ukraine destroying a fuel storage site in the country's south.

The Russian defence ministry had said it had killed more than 100 members of Ukrainian special forces and "foreign mercenaries" when it targeted a training centre in the town of Ovruch in northern Ukraine with sea-based missiles. 
 

The Kinzhal (Dagger) hypersonic missiles were fired from airspace over Russian-controlled Crimea. Russia also launched the Kalibr cruise missiles from the Caspian Sea targeting the depot.

Russia in fact added that the Kinzhal hypersonic missiles were used to destroy an underground missile and ammunition storage site in western Ukraine close to the border with NATO member Romania.

Russian analysts had said the Kinzhal hypersonic missiles in Deliatyn, a village in the foothills of the Carpathian mountains, was the first combat use of such weapons in the world.

However, Tod Wolters clearly stated that "multiple launches" of the  hypersonic weapons have been carried out in Ukraine.

The Russian defence ministry said that it also used long-range precision weapons against other facilities in Ukraine.

Russian forces fired the Kalibr missiles from the Black Sea to target a plant in the northern city of Nizhyn used to repair armoured vehicles, the ministry said.

"I think it was to demonstrate the capability and attempt to put fear in the hearts of the enemy. And I don't think they were successful,”  Wolters told US lawmakers.

Russia's claim it used a hypersonic missile in Ukraine was a way to reclaim war momentum, but the next-generation weaponry has not proved to be a "game changer," the Pentagon's chief.

Moscow said it fired two hypersonic missiles in Ukraine, and while US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin would not "confirm or dispute" whether Russia used such weapons.

Ukraine's outgunned military has put up unexpectedly intense resistance that has slowed Russia's advance, stalling its forces outside the capital Kyiv and several other cities, making Moscow's supply lines vulnerable to Ukrainian attacks.
 

Russia's use of the hard-to-intercept hypersonics was supposed to mark a dramatic escalation of its campaign to force Ukraine to abandon hopes of closer ties with the West.

With Putin and Russia under punitive Western sanctions, Moscow has reportedly asked China for military and economic aid for its war, a claim Beijing denies.

The Kinzhal missile was one of an array of new weapons Putin unveiled in his state-of-the-nation address in 2018.

Hypersonic missiles can be used to deliver conventional warheads, more rapidly and precisely than other missiles. But their capacity to deliver nuclear weapons could add to a country's threat, increasing the danger of a nuclear conflict.
 

Russia leads the hypersonics race followed by China and the United States, and several other countries are working on the technology.

Kashin, head of the Centre for Comprehensive European and International Studies at Moscow's Higher School of Economics, said that compared to cruise missiles hypersonic weapons were more efficient at destroying underground storage sites.

Like the much slower, often subsonic cruise missile, a hypersonic missile is manoeuverable, making it harder to track and defend against.

Some experts have however said Russia might be exaggerating the abilities of its hypersonic arsenal. Military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer suggested that the use of the Kinzhal would change little on the ground in Ukraine.

Last week Russia had tested the Kinzhal missiles in the Arctic region amid tensions with Ukraine at the border.

According to reports, Russia is preparing a Kinzhal hypersonic complex at military airfields. 

The Kinzhal missile system is nuclear-capable and was unveiled by President Putin during a speech in March 2018 as one of the  “next generation” weapons.

Russia has already deployed the air-launched ballistic missiles on MiG-31K carriers.

According to a report, Russia’s 2020 Arctic strategy states that the increased conflict potential of the Arctic requires the Russian armed forces to constantly increase their combat potential in the region.

(Photo Courtesy: Sputnik)

According to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies(CSIS), Kinzhal has been deployed on a squadron of MiG-31Ks in the southern military district and the western military district is set to receive the hypersonic weapon in the near future.

The missile known as the "Dagger” is an Air-launched Ballistic Missile (ALBM) with a payload of 480 kgs. It has a range of 1,500-2,000 km and was reportedly put in service in 2017.

The Kinzhal is typically described as a weapon intended to destroy high-value ground targets, such as missile defence sites, CSIS said in its study.

(Photo courtesy: Russian Aerospace Forces)

Putin had used his state of the nation address in 2018 to reveal new hypersonic weapons, including the Zircon, saying it could hit targets at sea and on land with a range of 1,000 kilometre.

The Zircon looks set to join Avangard hypersonic glide vehicles that were put into service in 2019 and the air-launched Kinzhal (Dagger) missiles in Russia's arsenal. Russia is generally seen as the world leader in hypersonic technology.

In fact, after the surprise launch of the hypersonic missile by China, Pentagon's top general Mark Milley had said it was "quite a Sputnik moment".

The general was referring to Soviet Union's stunning launch of the world's first satellite, Sputnik, in 1957, which sparked the superpowers' space race.

China denied the report, saying it was a routine test of a reusable space vehicle.