Categories: UKRAINE

Russian hypersonic Kinzhal missile was successfully shot down in Kyiv

Hypersonic Kinzhal (Kh-47) missile was successfully shot down by the Armed Forces of Ukraine: photos of wreckage and explanation of the cause of the strong explosion over Kyiv on the night of May 4, 2023.

Defense Express received photos of the wreckage, including those of a damaged nosecone of a Kinzhal (Kh-47) missile with which ruscists tried to hit Kyiv on the night of May 4.

For the first time the Armed Forces of Ukraine successfully intercepted the Russian hypersonic Kinzhal (Kh-47)missile at around 02:40 a.m. on May 4 over Kyiv.

The Kyiv City Military Administration officially reported about a night attack on Kyiv with the Shahed kamikaze drones. They noted that the ballistic missiles might have been deployed. Defense Express received photos of the missile wreckage from its own sources.

Based on the photos, the wreckage without a warhead fell at a stadium within the capital. 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 different diameters.

The nosecone of a Kh-22 missile is different, with oval diameter transitions. Besides, 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 speed. It also indicates that the intercept was quite effective, with the warhead destroyed in midair.

And that is why Kyiv residents heard the powerful explosion on the night of May 4.

As for the report about the destruction of the ballistic target, the fact is that a Kinzhal is hypersonic only in the imagination of ruscists. Because although an accelerator allows it to accelerate to hypersonic speeds, a missile cannot maintain such a speed constantly. During the attack, it comes at the target along a ballistic trajectory and its speed is high, but not hypersonic.

And Ukraine has already officially received means that can stop ballistic targets, ( e.g. Patriot), and apparently successfully used them. And if the information received from Defense Express finds official confirmation, then May 4 will be the day when another myth about “analogovnet” will be dispelled.

Russians have injected astronomical funds into the development of such “hypersonic” weapons as Kinzhal and Tsirkon and claim that they cannot be stopped not only by the existing means of anti-missile defense, but also by the promising ones. However, in reality, they are intercepted by the Patriot PAC-3 developed in the 90s.

Ukraine Front Lines